Two of a Kind
by Fallaby Z
Summary: Another pair of twins arrive at Ouran...one is quirky and fun, while the other is cool, intelligent, but kindhearted. They bump into the original pair of twins almost immediately, but it seems like the new girls know them already. HikaruxOC KaoruxOC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Hikaru was without his twin, for once.

After Haruhi entered their lives, they had been growing…apart, somehow. As in, Haruhi hadn't _broken_ their relationship—no sirree—but she had somehow…made them _personify_ themselves. If that made sense.

Anyway, life rarely made sense.

Like how two identical twins ended up liking the same girl, who ended up getting together with an absolutely idiotic and ridiculous, self-appointed 'King'. Loser, more like.

Hikaru sighed. Tono _was_, admittedly, his friend, though, so he would let it go.

But that didn't mean that he was going down without a fight.

Snickering to himself, Hikaru started to plan all sorts of tricks to play on the blond-haired "King", and didn't notice the pitter-patter of feet going his way until suddenly:

"_Watch out_!"

Hikaru turned just in time to see a girl (it was really just a very rapid blur) hurtling his direction. Just as she was about to slam into him, she sprang into a somersault and flipped neatly over him. Hikaru felt her hands grasp his shoulders as she expertly twirled over his head and landed softly on her feet.

Mouth slightly agape, Hikaru could only stare as the girl brushed her sweats off.

Yes, sweats. As in, training gear. As in, _totally inappropriate for Ouran High Schoo, which is a school full of rich kids with too much time on their hands_.

Hikaru studied her more closely.

She had black hair, lightened from the sun (and most likely constant exercise), which was tied up in a knotted ponytail. The girl was slim, shorter than most girls, and she had a heart-shaped face with bright skin and shining green eyes.

Wait a second. _Green?_

Hikaru squinted. Yep, that was green, all right. This girl was an oddball.

The aforementioned oddball straightened, and remembered the person that she had just flipped over. "Hey! Sorry about that. I was busy running across the campus—for training, you know—and I usually go in a straight line. But I _did_ tell you to 'watch out', you know, so it's not really my fault, is it?"

Great. Not only was this girl an exercise buff, she was talkative and a downright airhead. Maybe she was a scholarship student. That would explain the coarse, commoner-like manners. But no, she seemed too stupid to be a scholarship student.

Sneering, Hikaru shrugged. "You're a student here? Where's your uniform?"

"Uniform? Oh, you mean that frumpy-looking yellow mess-of-a-dress?" The girl snorted. "Hah! You _expect_ me to wear that kind of thing? Look, my mother took one look at that obscenity and burnt it. I think it was kind of a waste of fabric, though. I could've made it into curtains or something."

So she could afford a uniform. And use words like 'obscenity'. Looking closer, Hikaru discovered that her sweatpants were _designer_—made of the best quality fabric, and it cost quite a pretty penny, too. In fact, he remembered that his mother owned several pairs at home—courtesy of her clothing designer friend, who specialized in athletic clothing.

_Huh. Interesting._ Hikaru smiled, and extended his hand. "My name is Hitachiin Hikaru. What's yours?" He remembered the giant flip that she just executed, and asked another question: "And how on earth did you do that flip back there?"

She shook it firmly, and smiled. Hikaru blinked, and his smile widened into a genuine one. He would have to go tell Kaoru later about his newest find.

"I'm Yanase." Hikaru waited for her to reveal her first name, but she didn't. "Where's your brother?"

"How did you know I have a brother?" Hikaru asked. He preened a little. "I guess we're really popular. Do you go to the host club or something?" No, he would have noticed her if she did.

"What? Host club?" Yanase hooted. "That is probably the most stupid thing I've ever heard of. Let's just say that I got your whole twin info from a reliable source—nobody from the school, obviously." She stuck her hands into the pocket of her training gear and started to walk off.

"Wait!"

She turned back. "Yeah?"

"You didn't answer my question!"

"What question?"

"How did you—"

"Oh, _that_ question." Yanase smiled, tipping her head back in an oddly coy way. "Well, that's for me to know, and for you to find out." With that, she skipped away.

Kaoru was bored. Extremely bored.

Not only did he somehow get roped into attending an absolutely _stupid_ all-geeks academics contest, it was morning. _Early_ morning. Early mornings plus Kaoru equals to no good.

That was one math equation that he could solve in less than a second.

Yawning, he glanced around the classroom. Math geeks. History buffs. Blah, blah, blah.

Why were they so excited about this?

He wished Hikaru were here with him.

Kaoru drifted off into near-sleep until he was awoken by a huge bang from the door.

"P-Please, I can't—I'm sorry, but I _really_ have other things I need to do—" It was a girl's voice. Yawn. Nothing special.

"Please! You _just_ transferred into the school, and you got the top score on the entrance exam! And, according to the rumors, you took it with a 102 degree fever!"

So it was a brainy girl with guts. Either that, or she was one of the totally dedicated, 4.0 GPA freaks. Not that it wasn't good, but…

Yawn.

"Please don't believe rumors so easily." Oh? So the fever was just a tall tale then. "It was a 101 degree fever."

Kaoru snorted loudly, and he finally raised his hand to look at the geek.

Except it wasn't a geek.

She was slightly on the short side, with long, black hair with streaks of brown in it. And the interesting thing was that she had _green_ eyes. You didn't see black hair and green eyes often in Japanese people.

And she wasn't a geek.

Very far from it, in fact. She was—Kaoru had to admit—_beautiful_.

Not in an unearthly way, of course. It wasn't like Haruhi, or a model's beauty, either. It was more of…bright innocence. Like a little daisy.

Kaoru stood, stretched, and walked over to the girl. "Hi. I'm Hitachiin Kaoru. You were dragged here, too?"

The girl studied him for a moment, and smiled almost blindingly. "You could say that." She took his outstretched hand and shook it once. "I'm Yanase." He waited for her first name, but she didn't give it. "Where's your brother?"

Kaoru was surprised, and a little bit pleased that they were so popular. According to what he had heard from the conversation between Yanase and whoever she was talking to, she was a newly transferred student. "So, you're going to the Host Club, then? I hope you'll designate us."

"Um, thanks, but no thanks." Yanase grimaced. "I'm not interested in those kinds of things—it's awfully dumb, don't you think? And besides," she continued, "I don't know you and your brother because you're _popular_—I got it from an outside source." Smiling mysteriously, she waved goodbye. "Well then, thanks for distracting them so that I can make my escape."

"What do you—" Kaoru was cut off when Yanase yelled,

"Hey, guys! Hitachiin Kaoru promises to disprove Einstein's Theory of Relativity in less than five minutes!"

Kaoru paled. "Hey—what—"

It was too late. The crowd of over-achieving students swamped him, and Yanase was gone.

He'd really have to tell Hikaru about his newest find.

"Hey, Kaoru!" Hikaru ran to his brother.

"Hey, Hikaru!" Kaoru ran the rest of the distance as well.

"Guess what I found?" they yelled at the same time.

"A new toy!" they cried in unison.

"Oh, good, this means you'll stop bugging me," Haruhi grumbled as she ducked in between them.

They followed her into the classroom. "Oh, don't worry; we'll _never_ stop paying attention to you, Haruhi!"

"Oh, joy." Haruhi sighed.

The teacher walked in, and the class quieted down. "Ahem," he said. "We have two new transfer students today."

Both Hikaru and Kaoru's ears perked up. _Yanase?_

"Uh…please come in." The teacher coughed loudly.

The door slid open, and two people walked in. One had a baggy jacket over tight black leggings and combat boots, as well as a dark blue hat on the person's head. You couldn't see much of the person's face or hair.

The other (a girl) had her hair up in a high ponytail. She was wearing a pink dress and, oddly, a pair of Chuck Taylors. She also had a pair of dark sunglasses on.

"Um…" The teacher hacked again. "You. On the left." He was pointing to the boy/girl. "No hats. And all female students are required to wear dresses." Now he directed his gaze to the girl on the right. "And you: no sunglasses, and no sneakers."

The more feminine girl's mouth turned downwards, and she sighed audibly. The other girl laughed. "Don't be so stingy, _sensei_," she said. "You'll never be able to get a steady girlfriend."

_I know that voice_, Hikaru thought.

The sunglasses and hat came off. The jacket opened to reveal a slim body sheathed in a polka-dotted frock.

Blackish brown hair. Emerald green eyes.

Two identical faces mirrored each other.

The boyish-girl waved a hello. "Hi, I'm Yanase Rei, transferred in from America, but Japanese, in and out. I do gymnastics and dance, by the way. And volleyball, and swim, and tennis, and—"

"Show and tell comes later, Rei." The feminine girl bowed correctly, but a lopsided smile appeared on her face. "I'm Yanase Aria, also from America."

Together, they said, "We're identical twins."

"_What?_"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! It's Mei, the author of this story. :) Thanks for the reviews, Mitsy-chan and BlackButterfly1412! I did not expect any reviews...thank you for your nice comments. You made my day all fluffy. So, here is chapter numero dos. But before you read it, I want to warn you: I am one of those people who can't keep a story going. BUT I will try to make this one the first (?) story that I've ever finished. Sigh. Talk about uncommitted.**

**PLUS: I'm writing this story mainly for my own enjoyment/satisfaction/whim. So it may be kind of...I don't know. Rei and Aria will NOT turn into Mary-Sues, though. MS's are annoyingggggggggggg. Punch me in the face if they start to morph, please. Gimme a wake up call.**

**I want to ask you all another thing: who do you like better? Aria or Rei? Hikaru or Kaoru? In all honesty, I'm not liking Rei too much right now. (She annoys the HECK out of me. I'll try and make her more tolerable.) And between the original twins (yippee!) I love love LOVE Hikaru. I like Kaoru too, for his maturity and willingness to let go, but I kind of like Hikaru better. (I'M SO SORRY, KAORU!) So I'm including Aria in there to make him feel better. Poor Kao.**

**Enough of my babbling. Read. And review. And stuff. Feel free to ask any questions! If you find any mistakes, PLEASE tell me. I am definitely not a perfect person.**

**Disclaimer! (I forgot to include this in ch 1, but let's just say it's there. In invisible ink.) I don't own Hikaru, Kaoru, or any of the characters in Ouran High School Host Club. I don't own the story, either. Only the GENIUS Hatori Bisco owns them. (Lucky duck.) The only kiddos that belong to me are Yanase Aria and Yanase Rei.**

**P.S. (Sorry. I know I promised not to babble. I want to add one last thing. Two, actually. I SUPER-DUPER-PROMISE THIS TIME. If you guys know any good fanfiction out there, please tell me! I've read a lot of manga, from Death Note to Shugo Chara to Durarara! to Naruto to KHR, etc etc etc. Also, I'm going to start a ByakuyaxOC fic (from Bleach-LOVE him!). It may/may not be trashed though, but by all means, please check it out later. When I get around to writing it.)**

Chapter 2

"_What?_" Everyone turned to look at the Hitachiin twins, who were standing with their jaws dropped.

"Hi, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum!" Rei waved happily.

"No," Aria argued, "it should be Thing 1 and Thing 2. Short. Concise. Sounds better in general."

"Oh, I guess that's true. I always did like Dr. Seuss; besides, Dee and Dum were big, fat bald babies." Rei zipped her coat back up and folded her hat so that she could stick it into her pocket. "Anyway, _sensei_, where are our seating arrangements? You probably don't want to keep us together, or you might not be able to tell us apart."

"Oh, that's fine. I can tell you both apart very easily." The teacher puffed up, happy that he could at least decipher _one_ set of twins.

"Oh, is that so?" Suddenly, both of the Yanase twins adopted a very coy look, and they smiled.

Somehow, even though their personalities were worlds apart, they looked _exactly the same_. They even _sounded_ the same.

Well, that's what you get for being identical twins. (A/N: Sarcasm intended.)

"U-Uh…" Embarrassed, the teacher coughed. "Well, the younger one can go sit over there—" He pointed to a window seat in the back. "—and the older one can sit right there." He pointed to the center seat in the first row.

Aria pursed her lips and took her seat in the front. Rei grinned, and skipped all the way to her coveted seat, sighed dreamily, and commenced looking out the window.

"Fujioka. You will be in charge of introducing the Yanase twins to the school, all right?" the teacher instructed.

Haruhi nodded, and smiled at the older twin. "Hi, I'm Fujioka Haruhi."

"Yo." Rei raised a hand in greeting. "Call me Rei."

"But—it's impolite—"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Rei interrupted her. "It's a real problem to be a twin and have people calling you by your last name, because you would know if they were talking to you or your sibling, and then if you turned around and said 'Hey' and found out that it _wasn't_ you, you would get into an extremely embarrassing and humiliating situation." She took a breath, and plunged on. "Believe me, I have _tons_ of experience. Therefore I make it a point to have everyone call me by my first name. Okay?" She said this to the whole class, who was eavesdropping.

Aria shushed her from across the room. "Stop making a ruckus," she mouthed to her sister. "You're attracting too much attention."

"Sorry!" Rei mouthed back. "You can start the class now, sensei!"

"…and this is the cafeteria. Do you need to buy any food?" Haruhi asked the twins.

"Oh, yeah, we do." Aria smiled. "Will you eat lunch with us? We don't know anyone yet…"

"I'll eat lunch with you!" someone in the background exclaimed.

"…We don't have any _friends_ yet, I mean," Aria amended.

"Well, okay. I usually eat in the classroom, though, because of—"

"HARUHI!" A blond man zoomed over and hugged Haruhi tightly. "It's so rare to see you here!"

"Gerroff. I'm only here since Rei and Aria-san asked me to. Otherwise it'd be too much of a bother," Haruhi growled.

Tamaki extracted himself from his daughter/girlfriend and sighed. "You should come here more often. The host club should eat together! Club bonding, and all that."

"Club? _Host_ club?" Aria said in disbelief. "Fujioka-san, you're in the _host_ club?"

"Yeah, I know. It's stupid." Haruhi sighed. "Believe it or not, I was forced into the club against my will."

"Oh, I believe it, all right." Rei came back from ordering lunches. She handed a tray to Aria, who accepted it thanked her.

Continuing, Aria asked, "Anyways, isn't it kind of weird for you to be in the host club? After all, you're a girl."

The entire host club, who had assembled around them, was silent.

"Oh—hohohoho! Well, our dear Fujioka Haruhi certainly _looks_ like a girl, doesn't _he_? But deep down, he's _quite_ a manly person!" Tamaki loudly proclaimed, sweat dripping down his face.

"Wait a sec…he's a girl? I mean—she's a girl? I didn't know that," Rei commented.

Tamaki glanced around shiftily. "Emergency meeting in Music Room 3!" he whispered. "Hikaru, Kaoru, take the twins captive!"

Hikaru and Kaoru each took a twin and ushered them out of the room.

"But what about my lunch?" Rei wailed as she was dragged along.

"If you come by after school, you can have some snacks," Kaoru suggested.

"Let's see…" Aria studied Hikaru speculatively. "You're Hikaru. Let go of me this instant, unless you want both your arms and legs broken."

"She's not joking," Rei called back. "I'm a tenth dan in karate, you know. Don't make me unleash my talents."

"ARGH! Hikaru, switch with me!" Kaoru wailed.

"What can _she_—Aria, or whatever her name is-do?" Hikaru asked, ignoring his brother's pleas. He dodged a weak punch from Aria, who snarled something like "I don't appreciate you saying 'whatever her name is'—my name is _Aria_, buttface."

"Oh, she can read, sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, watch TV, laze around, and study," Rei answered. "Not to mention bullying me, scolding me, yelling at me, and telling on me to Mom." She shot a glare at her sister. "BTW, I still haven't forgotten that incident on thirteen years ago on February 6, 3 A.M. in the morning, when I stuck bubblegum into our nanny's hair."

"I don't seem to recall such a thing. Was it our third nanny? Or our fifth one?"

"Neither. It was the one with the funky hair—the one _before_ the serial killer one. What number was that? In any case, she was the lady who snored a lot and had atomic farts." Rei scratched her head with her one free hand, and accidentally stomped on Kaoru's foot. "Oops. Sorry."

Kaoru winced. "…Don't worry about it. And _what_ was that about serial killers?" He glanced at Hikaru. "I think we've only had thieves."

"Oh, we've had those, too, obviously, but the serial killer was the one that _really_ stood out. It turned out that she was a serial killer for animals only, though, but she got arrested anyway." Aria glanced around at the labels on the room. "I think we're here. Music room 3, right?"

They went inside, and were seated on the couch. The Hitachiins sat across from them on several chaises, and the others gathered around, studying the odd pair of sisters.

Rei was curled up, humming, while Aria had taken out a book and began to read.

"So, how are we going to take care of these abominations?" Tamaki seethed evilly.

"We can't!" Hani protested. "Aria-chan and Rei-chan are my very best friends, so we can't hurt them!"

"Ah." Mori voiced his consent.

"Um…" Rei stared at the two and turned to her sister. "You're…Hani-sempai and Takashi-niisan, right?"

Aria glanced at the two. "That's right…I remember, Hani-sempai tried to teach me some karate while you were taught by Takashi-sempai. I failed." Aria smiled. "You both haven't changed a bit. Except for Takashi-sempai…I think you've gotten taller, if that's possible."

"Hmm." Kyoya looked at his notebook. "Yanase Aria and Yanase Rei, age sixteen. Daughters of Yanase Reiko, CEO and main designer of Apple Athletic Clothing, and Yanase Arato, director of Magnifique Modeling. Yanase Rei: excels in athleticism and is quite popular; has many friends. Yanase Aria: the quieter introvert, but often known as the smarter and brighter of the two; plans the best heists that the twins execute, and is the heiress for both parents' businesses." (A/N: I know, 'Magnifique Modeling'? Absolute corn right there. Just keep in mind that it is a FILLER name and may/may not be changed.)

"Your parents' name sound familiar…and I mean really, _really_ familiar," Kaoru commented.

Hikaru continued his brother's train of thought. "Yeah…I _know_ I heard it somewhere before."

"You probably heard it on TV or something." Tamaki coughed several times. "If I can bring you four back to the current situation: HARUHI HAS BEEN FOUND OUT. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"

"Let's put it up to a vote," Kaoru suggested. "Who doesn't want to beat the crap out of those two?"

Everyone except for Tamaki, Kaoru, and Hikaru.

"They're my _friends_," Hani exclaimed. "Like my _sisters_! I _can't_ hurt them!"

Mori nodded silently.

"Well, we were originally wanting to scare them a little—get on their nerves," Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other and grinned. "But since Haruhi doesn't want to…it's decided! They're officially our new toy."

"I'm not particularly upset, and I don't really care," Haruhi commented. "Now can I leave? I want to eat lunch."

"So, King, I suppose you're outnumbered. Case closed." Kyoya turned to Aria and Rei. "In exchange of your release and the guarantee of your safety, I have a proposition for you: how would you like to be part of the Host Club?"

Aria flipped to the next page in her book, uninterested. Rei snorted. "Let me think about it…NO!"

Continuing in a heated argument with herself, Rei stood up. "Besides, why would you want to hire us? Everyone knows we're girls, and I don't think that there would be a lot of people who would like stuff like the Zuka Club or whatever it's called."

"Actually, that's part of the reason why I want to hire you."

"Huh?" This time, everyone in the room, barring Tamaki and Mori, said it.

"Well, my sweet princesses, let me explain! Those old witches of St. Lobelia Academy have been chasing after my darling Haruhi—"

"I AM NOT YOURS, OR YOUR DARLING," Haruhi interrupted as she chewed on her lunch.

"—and, in the mindset of wanting to protect my dear—"

"I repeat, NOT YOURS."

"Fine, then! My _girlfriend_—"

"Eep!" With a harried squeak, Haruhi rushed out of their room.

Tamaki continued, oblivious that his girlfriend had run out. "-from their ugly, nasty claws, I made a bet with them—"

"He means that he was tricked into making a bet with them," Kyoya smoothly intercepted. "Next week, three St. Lobelia students will come to our host club. If we succeed in making them fall for one of us, we win and they won't bother Haruhi. If we don't, then they will take Haruhi away."

"And this has to do with us because?" Aria asked, equally cool.

"Well, you attended St. Lobelia academy before and—"

Rei gasped and stood up. "OK. Wait. Before you say anything, I want to profess my innocence. I had _nothing_ to do with this—"

Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, _maybe_ I did _some_ of it, but I wasn't the one who instigated it! I was under very, _very_ intense provovovokuhcation!"

"It's 'provocation', Rei," Aria told her. She flipped to the next page of her book, sighed, and crossed her legs.

"Right. Provovovokuhcation." Rei grinned as she nudged her sister on purpose. Aria looked up long enough to glare at her.

"What happened?" Hikaru asked; one side of his mouth quirked upwards.

Rei started to laugh. "Why, thank you for asking! This is one of my greatest works, by the way." She coughed. "I rewired the stereo to play KAT-TUN and NEWS during the Zuka Club's most important performance—it was a performance made to garner sponsors. They detest those two groups," Rei said, "though I can't see why. Kame and Yamapi are awesome. So in the middle of the climax scene, which was supposed to be heart-wrenching and ridiculous, Yamashita Tomohisa's sexy voice blasts through the speakers!" She hooted. "You should have seen the look on Head Honcho Beni's face."

The entire room burst into laughter. Even Kyoya cracked a smile, and the tips of Mori's mouth inched upwards.

After the hubbub quieted down, Rei continued. "Anyway, I also tweaked the toilets to blow up while Head Honcho and her dorky sidekicks were using them. They always go to the bathroom together—weird, right? Oh, and I put itching powder into their flamboyant costumes."

"Awesome," Kaoru praised her.

"I wasn't even doing some of the best stuff—Aria was." Rei paused to think. "Come to think of it, I was the only one who got into trouble. In _fact_, I seem to recall being blamed for _Aria's_ pranks!" Whirling around, she glared at her sister.

"Well, I quit that school right when you did, anyway, so—" Aria started to protest, but she got cut off.

"But it's not fair! I didn't even get to amp it up yet, and then I got caught. But _you_ got to completely show off, and you escaped! Mom didn't even _punish_ you." Rei folded her arms and slumped back down into her spot. "Life is so not fair."

"What did she do?" Kaoru leaned in eagerly. It was hard to imagine Miss Smarty-Pants doing anything mischievous.

"'She' was smart enough to do everything behind the scenes, ahead of time," Aria said, shooting a look at Kaoru's direction. He raised his hands, and she continued, accepting his apology. "I doused their clothes in a special chemical that lights on fire in exactly thirty minutes." An unbelievably evil smile crept its way onto her face. "They were smart enough not to get burned, of course, though."

Kaoru was laughing so much he had to hold onto his belly while guffawing. Cackling, Hikaru hi-fived the girl, who returned it with a resounding slap.

"Anyhoo, let's kick those Lobelia asses to the next millennium!" Rei cheered, caught up in the moment.

Kyoya smiled smugly. "So you accept, then."

"Huh?" Rei's smile dropped, and she started to think about it seriously. "Well, I wouldn't give up a chance to give their butts a nice kick, buuuuuuut…how long will this last?"

"The deadline is next Friday, and today being Monday, we have eleven days. That's all I'll ask for," Kyoya said.

Rei looked at her sister. "That seems reasonable," Aria said. "_If_ we get a portion of the income."

"Hmm." Kyoya peered at her over his notebook. "Provided that you two actually _bring in_ more customers."

"We will. At the very least, 30 percent more-quite an increase, in your case. Win-win situation all around, isn't that right?" Aria smiled primly at the shadow king. One could almost see the lightning zapping from one person to the other, back and forth, back and forth, until…

"All right then," Kyoya replied, snapping his notebook shut. "We shall see. You will meet us here after school and take turns observing us and the customers. Afterwards, we will stay for approximately one hour to discuss on what we will need to win over the St. Lobelia students, and what they expect of us, as well as something that we can try out during the expanse of your time with us. It is during that time, Miss Aria," he added, "that we will discuss your _payment_, if any."

Rei could almost hear the wheels in her sister's mind cranking along rapidly as she took out a memo pad and began to hastily scribble down notes. "Well, Mr. Glasses," Rei said, propping her chin up with one hand. "I hate to pop your bubble, but I don't particularly enjoy following orders." Her expression was sober, and even a little arrogant. "I'll just be doing my own thing, thank you very much."

Kyoya's face darkened, and he smiled. "Oh? We'll see about that."

"Wanna bet?" Rei leaned closer, a smirk working its way onto her face. Then, suddenly, she straightened and smiled brightly. "Well then, we'll see you guys later. Off to lunch."

The bell rang.

"DANG IT!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Good morning Sunshine! The Earth says Hello! Except it's 9:14 at night. Can't deny that Willy Wonka's a great movie, though (the old version). It's about CHOCOLATE. And CANDY. What's not to like?**

**Anyhoo, here's chapter three. :) Shout out to StallionDuckie (love the, er, interesting username, by the way) for the awesome review. You made my day. Thanks for laughing. ^_^**

**This chapter is a kind of useless chapter, in my opinion. I don't want Hikaru and Rei (the couple I'm focusing on) to go like BAM! let's get married! only after meeting for a couple of days. Which does not happen in reality. Sooooooo this stuff is kind of put in to make it as realistic as it can get. Then again, this is fanfiction. Not realistic.**

**Whatever. Enjoy. R&R. Read and review. Rudolf and Reindeer. Raspberry and rutabaga. So on and so forth. K bye.**

Chapter 3

(Rei's POV)

I got to the music room after school a little bit late. OK, I was _really_ late. As in, an hour late. I got a _tiny_ bit distracted.

Oh, fine. I got really distracted. Happy now?

Class ended (it was the one class I had without Aria or Haruhi or the Hitachiin twins), and I got a wee bit hungry. So, after forgetting that there was food at the host club, I went off in search for a quick snack, which somehow led me outside, into the impractically huge campus.

Did I mention that I get lost easily? I have a tracking bracelet on my wrist after numerous disappearances.

So, anyways, after wandering the campus (and eating a sweet potato that a random raccoon gave me—it was kind of hard, it being raw and all) for forty-five minutes, I finally heard a voice calling, "YANASE REI! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

I hopped as high as I could, calling back, "I'm right here! And I'm not in Hell!"

There was a groan, and Hitachiin Hikaru popped out. "Are you an idiot or something? How does someone get lost so easily?"

I shrugged. "There's a fine line between idiocy and genius."

"That I believe." Hikaru grabbed my arm and started dragging me away. "_Don't_ get separated from me; I don't want to have to find you again."

"Aria says that I can get lost in a paper bag."

Hikaru snorted. "That is highly possible. Do you know how much _effort_ I had to put in to find you? Thirty minutes. _Thirty minutes_. Do you know how _valuable_ that amount of time is? Besides, the customers never pay as much when it's only me or Kaoru."

I tuned him out automatically, reducing his blabbing to a mosquito's buzz.

_…_

"…You aren't listening, are you?" Hikaru asked indignantly, and I snapped out of my reverie to grin at him.

"Of course I am."

He poked me in the forehead. "There's another thing you can't do: lie."

"Of course I can, Hitachiin. You just haven't seen my skills yet." I stretched my grin even more, hoping to look like the Cheshire Cat.

"You probably are as talented at lying as I am at ballet."

"You do ballet?" I asked excitedly. "Me too! We could do a dance I choreographed together—it's called the Farting Dance, and it's great…"

He rolled his eyes. "I was being sarcastic. I don't do ballet." Hikaru tugged me along a couple more corridors before we finally got to the music room. "Oh, and one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Call me Hikaru. Don't get me wrong—it just feels weird to be called 'Hitachiin'."

"OK! You can call me Sha Qui Qui."

"…Where the hell did that come from?"

"The portal of randomness also known as my brain," I answered as I pushed the doors open. Rose petals swarmed around me. "Hey, is there any food in this shack?"

(Aria POV)

I looked up from my laptop as the door opened.

"Hey, is there any food in this shack?"

Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, I stood to meet my sister. "Rei, you're an hour late."

"Oh, I know. Ooh, is that cake?" Rei almost swooped to grab a customer's strawberry shortcake, but I stopped her just in time.

"Rei, I made a schedule for us to follow—we'll each spend fifteen minutes with separate groups so that we can cover everyone. Tomorrow, we'll switch." I made sure that my sister was listening before continuing. "You'll be with the twins, Mitsukuni-sempai, and Takashi-sempai. I'll be with Suoh-sempai, Fujioka-san, and Ohtori-sempai."

"Copy that." Rei 'saluted' me and went off to join Kaoru and Hikaru (she stole some cake along the way).

Sighing, I shook my head and went to the Host King's table.

As expected, he was a brainless cad who only knew how to look handsome and spout frivolous, romantic pickup lines. Immediately, I crossed him off the list of someone who could potentially sway a Lobelian.

It was going to be a long day.

(3rd Person POV)

"Hi. I'd like something to eat," Rei told the first person she saw at the twins' table, which happened to be one of the twins (Kaoru). "What do you recommend, Kaoru?"

Kaoru stopped, surprised. "You can tell us apart?"

At the same time, Hikaru said, "That chocolate gateau you just swiped tastes pretty good. You have a crumb right here." He pointed to the area below his lips.

"Oh. Thanks." Rubbing it fiercely, Rei only succeeded in smudging the melted chocolate even more.

Laughing heartily, Kaoru mopped her up with a napkin.

"Oh, you're such a mother, _Hikaru_," Hikaru sighed dreamily, disguising the name-change with the homo act. "It reminds me when you used to clean me up when we were little."

Kaoru smiled suggestively over his shoulder. "Wait 'till we get home, Kaoru—"

Bored, Rei interrupted. "Can you guys stop with that? It's gross, and it's getting old. Besides, the Lobelians don't really enjoy the whole homo stuff—and don't think I didn't catch the part where you switched your names, Hikaru."

Hikaru snorted. "Lucky guess, Sha Qui Qui."

"What did you call her?" Kaoru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't ask."

"Hey, Kaoru-kun, do you think that she can tell you two apart since she's a twin, too?" one of the customers asked Hikaru.

"That's Hikaru, by the way," Rei said. "And I don't think it's because I'm a twin. I mean, I've met tons of twins, and they couldn't tell me or Aria apart. Even though we have totally different personalities, you know?"

"I see…" the customer (her name was Aya) said. "You know, Yanase-san, you really do seem like a boy sometimes."

The other customer (Miyu) giggled. "I know! If she was a boy, I would totally fall in love with her! She's so the sportsy-innocent type!"

"Hmm…is that so?" Hikaru studied her. "Let's play the 'Which one is Hikaru-kun game'!"

"Yay!" the customers cheered.

"That's a stupid name," Aria said as she passed by. (She was going to Haruhi's table, since her personality was something that the Lobelians generally liked.)

Hikaru and Kaoru put on their hats, instructed Rei to shut her eyes (which she did), and switched themselves around. "OK, open your eyes now!"

Rei opened them and smiled. "The name of this game is 'Which one is Hikaru-kun game', right?"

""Yeah.""

"Well, why Hikaru? Why not Kaoru? Kaoru's younger, right? Shouldn't the younger brother's name go first? The older one will die first, anyway… And besides, I think that Kaoru sounds better, don't you? I bet Hikaru just wants to monopolize his position as the _better_ twin, since he's older and all—"

"_Exactly_, Hikaru!" Kaoru exclaimed indignantly. "We should change it to the 'Which one is Kaoru-kun—oops."

Rei grinned and flashed a V-sign at the twins. "Hi, Kaoru-kun."

Hikaru slapped his forehead. "I can't believe you got caught in that trap, Kaoru."

"Sorry, Hikaru."

"See, Hikaru?" Rei said. "I _told_ you there was a fine line between genius and idiocy."

"I never told you I doubted that," Hikaru muttered to himself. "Idiot."

**So, what'd you think? Eh? Eh? Spoiler for the next chapter: Rei and Aria are going to, surprise, help out in the "reining in" of those snappy Lobelians (I don't think that's even the proper term. But whatever). I guess it's kind of cliched, huh? I'm sowwy... (grovel grovel) But I think it's going to be fun.**

**Any ideas on what their manly names should be? Also, I'm going to put some polls up for your favorite character so far. Also, I am writing a ByakuyaxOC fanfic that may or may not fly, but by all means...CHECK IT OUT YO! I'd greatly appreciate feedback.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone! Here's the next chapter... It's focusing on Aria, and it kind of reveals her personality as well as her relationship with her sister. Also, some hidden secrets are revealed: she actually plays the guitar really, really well. And she sings like Hayley Williams. Also, something about their mom: she's a total businesswoman. She usually only thinks about business and serious things like that, so she doesn't really like Rei as much as Aria, since Aria is generally known to be the "better" one. However, you see that Aria comes to the exact opposite conclusion. But anyways...Aria is a total prickly pear. Spiky on the outside and sweet on the inside.**

**Also, thanks for everyone who reviewed!**

**Poison Innocence: Thank you for your honesty. :) I'm sorry that Rei's personality doesn't stick with you so well...but to tell you the truth, I find myself kind of annoyed with her sometimes. But it IS one of her flaws.**

**BlackButterfly1412: YOU'RE "damn awesome"! ^_^ Thanks for the suggestions! I like Akira for Aria...it sounds really elegant and strong at the same time. I may/may not keep Rei's name as Rei, 'cause it goes both ways, anyway.**

**StallionDuckie: Hello again! Thank you for your repeat reviews. :3 Your review made me laugh, which was good, since I was having a pretty bad day. Thank you! Toodles~**

**Watermelong Ice Cream (love the username, btw): I'm happy you found it, too. :D**

**Thanks for reading, and enjoy! 3**

Chapter 4

(Aria's POV)

I glanced at the twins' table. Hikaru and Kaoru were gawking away, while my sister was confidently laughing her head off. Then, she would do something embarrassing.

On cue, Rei tripped on the slippery tile and fell onto her face. Finding it oddly funny, she started to laugh uproariously.

Predictably unpredictable; that was the paradoxical term to define my twin.

I had to admit, I was sometimes envious of her openness. I could not fathom how she could talk with people so easily, how she could find mutual interests and branch off into a conversation in a blink of an eye. She managed to look nice in anything she wore (even if it were the old training clothes off of Mother's athletic clothing line), and she wasn't overly selfish or spoiled, though she did grate on my nervous often.

We couldn't be more different. I was the intelligent and artistic one, while she was the sporty and social butterfly. I was practical and logical; she was reckless, naïve, and idealistic. From a businessperson's perspective, I was the better half, but personality-wise, Rei was always the winner.

I had come to terms with this the day I decided to become the sole successor of Mother's company. Rei was completely unsuitable for the role of a caged bird; additionally, she hated statistics, business, and couldn't keep a straight face in an interview for the life of her. Therefore it only made sense for me to take that position…

Rei was my freedom. It didn't matter if I was to work for the rest of my life in an office. If Rei was happy, then I was happy…right?

My mind wandered to the vintage electric guitar hidden away in the very back of my closet.

No. This was wrong. I had given up guitar long ago—my no longer calloused fingers proved it.

"Are you okay?" A voice jolted me from my thoughts. "You're clenching that pencil awfully hard."

I glanced down at my fist, only realizing then that I had caused a tiny crack to form in the wood. It was surprising, considering my nonexistent strength. Lifting my head up, I offered a smile (reserved for when I didn't know how to respond) to the female customer sitting next to me at Fujioka-san's table. "Thank you."

What happened next utterly boggled me, to say the very least. The girl turned a shade of _pink_, and she _squealed_. Grimacing, I cringed in response. It reminded me of the abominable Zuka Club all over again.

"I'm sorry—I know I shouldn't be having this reaction to a _girl_, of all things, but—" She halted her babbling for another high-pitched SQUEEEEE! "—I can't _help_ it! It's just that…that _expression_! That _tone_! The 45 degree lift of that eyebrow! It's just so…so…MOE!"

'Moe'? This was a word unknown to my vocabulary. I glanced at Fujioka-san. "Huh?"

She shrugged in response, so I turned back to the screaming maniac. "I'm sorry for interrupting your—tirade of sorts, but…do you mind explaining?"

The girl on my other side (I struggled to remember her name—I believe it was Erika or something to that effect) shrieked excitedly as well. "Omigosh omigosh _omigosh_!"

Again, Fujioka-san and I exchanged confused looks.

"Do you think you could tie your hair in the back?" Erika pleaded, proffering a hair tie.

Befuddled, I accepted it and tied my hair loosely in a bun, letting several strands escape for a fringe of sorts.

"OMG!" The two screamed again, this time alerting several other customers, as well as Rei, who just liked to be nosy.

"What's going on?" she asked, bringing the twins along with her (they didn't look too happy, with their customers being stolen).

"Rei-kun! Aria-san looks like a total bishie!" one of the customers said.

Now when did they start to call Rei with the suffix 'kun'? Also, what did 'bishie' mean?

I resolved to look it up in the dictionary later.

For some reason, Rei seemed to know what she was talking about. "Huh? Oh, I guess so. Aria _does_ have the attitude of an arrogant, shoujo manga bishounen."

_Ah_. Bishounen. As in, a beautiful boy.

I froze as something occurred to me. They were referring to _me_.

Glancing at Rei, I saw her struggling to contain her laughter. Oh. Ha-ha. Very funny.

"Why would you like her?" one of the twins (Kaoru) asked. "She looks like a girl to me."

"That's the _point_! It's like Haruhi-kun, but sexier and with a more arrogant edge!"

Did I come off as arrogant? I hadn't meant to.

"But Aria's not arrogant at all, you know," Rei cut in defensively. "She's just honest a lot of the time. Like me."

The girls paid us no attention. I was starting to feel that the female race were mutating into something unimaginable. "And, with Rei's innocent, baseball-character, their twinsieness is _perfect_!" (A/N: by baseball-character, I mean the kind of guy in manga that does sports and is totally nice and friendly. If you've read KHR, it's like a dupe of…uh…hang on a sec…I forgot his name…urm…well, it's the katana sushi baseball guy.)

Now both Rei and I were completely lost, and we glanced at each other. Rei shrugged. "Maybe they're going bonkers," she suggested.

"Or maybe they were just born this way," I whispered back, causing Rei to do a very bad, off-key imitation of Lady Gaga.

"Tamaki's whining for commoner's food," Kyoya cut in. "Before he creates a ruckus, will you buy some commoner's ramen for him?" Ugh. I detested running errands for others.

"I want to go!" Rei cheered.

"You could get lost in a cardboard box." I shot her down immediately. "Besides, you get distracted too easily."

"Exactly," Ohtori-sempai agreed with me. "However, since, according to my research, you yourself have a tendency to escape doing duties you dislike, I'll have to send a chaperone." He looked around and, obviously, excluded himself as an option. "One of the Hitachiins will go."

Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other. "I'll hold down the fort," Hikaru suggested.

"Be back in a few." Kaoru waved his brother goodbye before turning to me. "Well, let's go. No time to waste."

We walked outside of the noisy room. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Finally, some peace and quiet.

"We'll take my car," Kaoru said. "We make these commoner's grocery runs all the time, so our chauffeur knows which store is the closest."

I didn't know what to say. "All right…"

"This is good, though." I was relieved when Kaoru started up again, breaking the awkward silence. "I had wanted to talk to you, Aria." He stopped. "You don't mind me calling you that, do you? You can call me—"

"Kaoru," I finished. "That's fine."

"Huh." Kaoru stopped, studying me. "I'm starting to think that maybe twins can really tell other twins apart."

"That's a myth." I continued to walk, not waiting for him. "I've met plenty of other twins, and the majority of them couldn't differentiate between us." I held back a laugh as I remembered a particular incident where two twin brothers boggled up our names, thinking that we were Rhonda and Aero, which, barring the first letters, were a far cry from our actual names. "Then again, most of them had the intelligence of an ant."

Kaoru snickered. "Don't tell me…the Wicker brothers?"

I groaned. "They're _awful_, aren't they? Rei and I ended up having to trap them inside the laundry chute to get them to leave us alone."

"How did you do _that_? They're quite…beefy."

"How did Augustus Gloop wind up inside the chocolate tubes of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory?"

"Good point." We arrived at the car, which was waiting for us at the school entrance. Kaoru opened the door for me with a flourish. "After you, princess?"

I stared at him, and deliberately went around the car to enter from the other side. "You've been infected by the Suoh Tamaki disease. You need purging."

Kaoru glanced at me sideways. "And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Do you remember how Ohtori-sempai said that I had a tendency to avoid things I didn't like?"

"Uh-huh." The boy started to smile.

"Well, I have a duty to fulfill his expectations now, don't I?"

"Absolutely." Kaoru leaned over to press the intercom button. "If you don't mind, can you take us to the nearest amusement park or mall around here?" He winked. "We have some escaping to do."

**Well? How did you guys like it? Do you hate Aria or love her? In my opinion, she kind of mirrors me...she's too blunt sometimes. :) This was a kind of spur-of-the-moment, plotless kind of thing, especially since I should be studying for a bigass test tomorrow. Crap. Also, this whole week will be full of testing and cramming, so the next chapter will probably not be out until the weekend/next week. Reviews are appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! This will be a short chapter (630 words-I'm sorry!) but I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. :) I'll try to get the next one out...I'm hyped up for what I'm currently planning! ^_^ I hope you all like it!**

**Special thanks to Animefreak Amii, Michie Kiyomi (I like your name, by the way), and repeat reviewer BlackButterfly1412 (I'm glad you like Aria! I wasn't sure if her personality would tide over well...and I'd be happy if your sister read it, too!). You guys all deserve some cyber cookies. Fresh out of the oven.**

**Reviews are appreciated!**

Chapter 5

(Rei's POV)

After Aria and Kaoru left, I decided to try and ditch as well—nothing was fun when your other half is gone, after all. _However_, as I was in escape-mode, Hikaru just _had_ to spoil all the fun.

My previously-high regard of him was dwindled. That guy does not know how to have fun.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Escaping! What are _you_ doing?" I hissed back. My stomach gurgled a little bit, and I felt a twinge shoot up. I looked down for a minute. Mother Nature's monthly gift? Eh, probably not.

"Stopping you from escaping!" Hikaru's defensive retort made me look back at him again.

"Why?"

"…" He was at a loss. "Because I have nothing else to do, and I don't have any customers now that Kaoru's gone!"

"Well, that's not my problem, is it?" I tried to sneak out the door once more, but he grabbed the back of my hoodie, making me choke and throw an irritated glare at him.

"Well, it was _your_ sister who took _my_ brother away!" He checked the clock. "They've been gone for over thirty minutes. Maybe they got kidnapped or something."

"Oh, puh-lease. At least make up something less clichéd, like, maybe they got hooked up with one of those hot-dog mobiles and are now feasting away in hot-dog heaven." I sighed. "Anyways, it's obvious my sister took the chance to play hooky, like I _should_ be doing. And your brother followed her good example."

"Uh-huh. Obviously." Hikaru stared at me dully, and pursed his lips, annoyed. "Look, just…call her or something. Tell them to hurry up."

"Or, I can go find them myself, and tell them in person?" I asked hopefully.

Hikaru considered this for a moment, and looked back at the glasses guy—what was his name? Ootoro Kyosuke? Eh, whatever.

Anyways, the point is was that the glasses dude was looking somewhere else, so Hikaru nodded. "I don't trust you going out by yourself—you'd just get yourself stuck in the garbage dump or something. I'll come with you."

"Since when did you get so caring? You've been calling me an idiot ever since we met," I said. Not waiting for him to answer, I said, "Whatever. Just hurry up." Creeping out of the door, I scampered down the hallway and turned the corner before I stopped suddenly.

"OW! HEY!" Hikaru had bumped into me, and there was now a purpling bruise on my forehead. "Your forehead is freaking hard!" He stopped, and studied me. "What's up? You look like you ate something weird."

Weirdly, he wasn't far off. The sour ache in my stomach had worsened, and I could already taste the bile forming in my mouth. Maybe it was the cake or something.

I groaned. I could already hear Aria's voice in my head saying, _"I told you so."_

Sheesh. Why did this have to happen? Bending over, I tried to speak and hold in the vomit at the same time. "I…don't feel…urgh…"

His head whipping around to look for help, Hikaru had a harried look on his face, unsure of what to do. He wrung his hands comically, and I admit I probably looked awfully funny myself: green in the face, laughing, talking, and trying not to barf all at once.

What I did next was something that even I felt mortified about for at least a month.

I threw up all over Hikaru's clothes, and promptly blacked out.

Well, I guess it saved me from the immediate humiliation.

But for some reason, I had a feeling that all would _not_ be well when I woke up.

I wasn't wrong.

**OK, so what'd you think? I know, Rei's personality kind of started to morph on me. I guess she didn't like being so hyper and random? Haha, maybe I'll try and shove her back into the mold...what do you guys think? Keep or toss?**

**Alsooooo...what do you think is going to happen? Why did Rei throw up? Food poisoning? If so, then WHO poisoned it? And will other people be affected, too?**

**One last thing. Should I make something up about what Kaoru and Aria are doing on their 'escape plan'? I don't have a lot of ideas...what do you guys think? Feel free to give me some ideas!**

**~Thank you~**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys~ Thanks for reading, as always... :) Reviews are appreciated!**

**First off: Michie Kiyomi! Thanks for the input and the idea-I'm using it!**

**Shout out to Twinklefeather (I'm sorry, but when I saw your pen name, the first thing I thought of was Twinkle toes -_-") thank you!**

**Poison Innocence: I decided not to...I'm kind of lazy. Hahaha maybe I'll do an omake or something for the celebration of chapter 10.**

**Animefreak Amii: Yes to all three questions. :) I'm sorry...I feel terrible for making Hani-sempai go through all this TORTURE. I bet he'll never look at cake the same way again...not.**

**And finally, the disclaimer that I keep on forgetting to do! Let's just say that chapter 6 vouches for all the other chapters so that I won't have to do this again.**

***AHEM* OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB IS NOT ! (shouts off into the distance on a cliff) *echo echo echo echo echo***

Chapter 6

(Aria's POV)

We had just arrived at an arcade (surprisingly, Kaoru had never been to one) when I received a call from Rei.

At least, it was from Rei's phone. I knew immediately that something was amiss when a _male_ voice started to babble loudly through the speaker. He nearly burst my eardrums, and I had to hold my phone a ways away from my ear in order to hear him properly.

"Is this Hitachiin Hikaru?" I asked during a lapse in his unintelligible shrieks and blubbering.

The answer was something garbled. I could only make out a few choice phrases like "Cake", "barf", and "spare clothes".

Glancing at Kaoru, I started to quickly piece the scenario together. "Wait. Calm down. Let me get this straight: Rei threw up? Because of…cake? And you need me to bring her spare clothes."

He paused for a long moment, and I thought I heard a grimace. _"Actually, we _both _need spare clothes. My brother's with you, right?"_

Silently, I handed the phone over. Kaoru put it to his ear. "Hikaru? Is she okay?" He listened to his brother's reply, nodded slowly, and said, "OK. We'll come back right now—just take a shower first and have someone get a spare uniform for the two of you."

He snapped the phone shut, and looked at me with an oddly serious look. "Kyoya thinks that someone's been tampering with the food for the host club. A lot of the customers got sick, and the revenue's going down." He sighed. "He's not very happy about this."

I stopped, and thought about it. Who would hate the Host Club with such a vengeance as to poison innocent customers?

Kaoru and I both looked at each other. "St. Lobelia Academy."

Enough said.

(Rei's POV)

I woke up feeling groggy, slow, and absolutely sick. When the bright lights of what looked to be the nurse's office dimmed, I saw Aria and Kaoru sitting by me. The incident from before flooded back into my mind, and I looked down with unheard-of mortification. (Seriously. I'm usually not very repentant when I do bad things, i.e. punch stuck-up idiots, and I'm usually not _too_ embarrassed when I do embarrassing things. So this was a first.)

"Are you feeling okay?" Aria rubbed my hand soothingly, with a worried look on her face. "Do you want to go home? Your stomach might act up again—the nurse has some pills for stomach upset… I'll represent both of us at the meeting."

I shook my head, and attempted a strained smile that probably showed too much teeth. "Nah, I'm feeling a lot better." _Not._

Unconvinced, Aria rolled her eyes. "You're as stubborn as ever."

"Well, maybe that's why we have the same face," I shot back. "I seem to recall _you_ having similar bouts of bull-headedness."

Aria couldn't keep a tiny smile from crawling onto her face. (I saw that Kaoru noticed, too—ooh la la, anyone?) "Do what you'd like. Can you sit up?"

"I'm _fine_, Aria." Acting more confidently than I felt, I swung myself out of the bed. "Where's Hikaru? I have to go apologize…I imagine that he wouldn't have taken puke on his clothes and hair too well."

On cue, Hikaru stuck his head into the room, his hair wet from a shower, probably. He was dressed in a clean, crisp uniform and had a damp towel around his neck to catch the droplets raining from his hair. "Is she awake?" Then he saw me. "Oh. Hey. How're you feeling?"

My view of him rose by 10 points.

"You know that you're going to have to replace my uniform, right? And I don't mean _dry cleaning_. I refuse to wear something that has been barfed on." He shivered and grimaced.

Decreased by 20 points.

Then again, I wouldn't blame him. _I_ wouldn't want to wear something that had…uh…partially digested material on it, either. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to." Sighing heavily, I looked down at my bare feet.

I needed my sweats. Desperately. (Just in case you don't know, my sweatpants are like my safety blanket.)

He stared at me. "Since when are you so _depressed_? You're being weird."

I managed a shaky chuckle. "No, really. I'm really, really sorry—and of course I'll replace your uniform." Looking up, I stared at his forehead, avoiding looking into his eyes. "What happened back then? It's kind of hazy…"

"What? You mean, like, you want a recap of how you turned green and threw up all over me? Barf came out of your nose too, by the way."

I reddened like a tomato. Out of my _nose_? REALLY?

The twins (and even my sister—traitor!) burst into laughter. "I was just kidding, stupid."

Chewing on my lip, I exhaled out of my nose angrily. "You better watch it, Hitachiin Hikaru. I'm getting my revenge on you."

"Ooh, _scary_."

"AGH!" I tried to fling myself at him, kicking, but a word from Aria stopped me in my tracks.

"Rei." She took me by the arm. "We'll get you cleaned up, changed, and then we'll go back to the host club room for the meeting."

"Okay…" I trailed behind her obediently.

Aria was always my weakness. Between the two of us, she was always the more responsible, mother figure. I knew that she always took the brunt of the work, and she had planned to give _me_ freedom, sacrificing her own happiness. So I always tried to honor her decision by being constantly happy and hyper. Sometimes it was forced to the point of exertion, but…it seemed like it was the only thing I could do for my sister, besides obeying her.

"They think someone poisoned the cakes." Aria drew me out of my thoughts.

"HUH? Really?" I winced. "Who else is affected?"

"I checked the doses in the cakes, and it's mild enough so that anyone eating less than 2 cakes will not be affected. However, those who ate more—" She flashed a significant look at me (I had eaten at least 5). "—will be at least moderately affected."

We got to the school showers, and Aria shoved me into the stall, turning on the scalding hot water.

"OUCH!" I yelped, jumping out of the way and hurriedly cranking the temperature of the water down to a cooler degree. Sighing in relief, I almost ripped off my clothes and tossed them over the closed door of the shower stall.

Laughing, she caught them deftly and proceeded to sit on a chair, waiting for me. "Any idea who was the one who instigated the poisoning?" she called.

It didn't take me long to figure it out. "Lobelia, right?"

"Most likely."

"Probably not the magnificent Beni-whatever her name is-sama, though. She wouldn't risk hurting so many girls." I started to belt out a horrible rendition of _Thriller_ to my showerhead, a habit I had while shampooing.

"Her henchmen, then?" Aria had to shout over the water.

I paused in my transition to _Hairspray_. "Maybe. How are we going to get revenge?" I paused. "We _are_ getting revenge, right? It's like…they totally set me up for this." It dawned on me. "They _know_ I'm such a pig when it comes to cakes!"

I ignored Aria's audible mutter of, "Oh, so you know, too?" and continued. "They did it on purpose to affect _me_, right? It's somebody _trying_ to get back at me!" I gasped, turned off the water, and looked around. "Who could be trying to do that?"

"A lot of people. If I had to name one person, though, I'd go for Rose."

"…You are a genius, my sister."

"Thank you. Now hurry up. It's getting cold, drafty, and humid all at once, and I don't want to get my shoes wet."

Rose Robinson was also someone who came from America, except she was mixed—her mom was Japanese, and her dad was American. For some reason, she hated me with a vengeance (though it may have had something to do with me tripping in the cafeteria and accidentally spilling a whole bowl of ramen on her), and it had gotten to the point where it became _scary_.

Poisoning, regardless of how many innocent people were affected, was something that Raging Red (an appropriate nickname that Aria and I had dubbed her) would not be afraid to do. In fact, it was right up her alley, since she was too much of a wimp to just come right at me and (attempt to) beat me up.

After toweling off as best I could and wrapping my hair into a tight knot, I dressed in the clothes that Aria handed me (unfortunately, they were not my sweatpants—instead, it was a _boy's_ uniform). Well, better than nothing, and _definitely_ better than the yellow umbrella-dress.

We returned to the host club room, which was empty of customers.

Of course. The throwing up thing wouldn't have been good for customers. Glasses guy wasn't going to be happy.

I glanced at him. He had an extremely dark aura around him while he flipped through his journal of his, ticking off calculations on a calculator. Uh-oh.

Hani-sempai had half his head inside a pink bunny bucket, and Takashi-niisan was looking over him worriedly. Ouch.

Tentatively, I rubbed him on the back. "Are you okay? I know how you feel."

There was a grunt from inside the bucket, and I winced. He was in his reputable bad mood, too.

Unfortunately, Haruhi was also looking a little on the queasy side. "I made the mistake of letting myself go and eating _one_ little cake—" She laughed hoarsely and muttered something about "damn rich people".

Other than the still-barfing Hani-sempai, the green Haruhi, and the somewhat-still-sick me, everyone else looked fine, physically. Emotionally, not so much.

The blond "king" was weeping over his loss of customers and the sickness of Haruhi. The dark king, as I said, was seething over numerical data, and the twins looked extremely pissed off. Even Takashi-niisan had a deeper frown than usual.

"We think we know who did this," Aria spoke up. Everyone's heads swiveled to meet her eyes.

"_Who?_" Glasses guy had a menacing look on his face as he laughed darkly. "Once I get my hands on them, I'll make them _pay_ for all the funds they cost me today…"

Gulping, I decided to keep from him the fact that Rose probably poisoned everyone because of _me_.

"Rose Robinson, age sixteen," Aria said, completely business-like. "She's a student at the St. Lobelia Academy—"

"I'LL MAKE THEM PAY FOR HURTING MY HARUHI!" The loud blond was shushed with a whap of an ugly teddy bear. "OH! KUMA-CHAN!"

As if the interruption had never occurred, Aria smoothly continued. "—and she's known to hold grudges for an extremely long time, and go to extreme lengths to get revenge. She also is an avid devotee of Amakusa Benio, or Benibara-sama to the Zuka Club."

"Then, you're saying that your sister did something to this Rose Robinson that would prompt her to seek thorough revenge?" Darn. That glasses guy caught on _way_ too fast.

"You are correct."

Oh dang. Lion on the loose.

Hurriedly, I threw my hands up in defense. "HEY! I said sorry to her! It was just a little bit of soup, some dabbling with noodles, a little bit of meat here and there—"

"You have a tendency to understate things, Rei," Aria sighed. She turned to the glasses guy. "We are very sorry to have caused this trouble—however, I have a plan to make it up to you, restore your immaculate reputation, win against Benio, _and_ increase customer revenue at the same time."

I broke the long silence. "That was an incredibly long sentence, Aria. The only words I understood was 'win against Benio', and I'm all for that."

The glasses guy calmed down and returned to his seat, pushing up his glasses. "Very well. What do you have in mind?"

Aria had the most wicked smile on her face. "Rei and I will join your little host club escapade. As _men_."

"...WHAT?"

**Well? Well? Well? How'd you like it? By the way, another reason why they call Rose Ragin' Red is because...surprise surprise, she has red hair. Kind of like a Raggedy Ann doll, maybe (remember those things? creepy).**

**R&R**

**Love you all!**


	7. Chapter 7

**OK people, here's chapter number seven. I typed it out in a rush/I kind of wanted to get it over with, so it's OK if you don't like it. I'M SORRY FOR MY INCOMPETENCE! TT_TT (this reminds me of the Monkey in Fruits Basket...hehe) Anyhoo, as per the usual, comment and review! I'll give you a kiss! (The chocolate kind.)**

**Oooh yeah: thanks to KagedJay16 (awesome pen name btw) and the GLORIOUS Michie Kiyomi for reviewing! :)**

**Disclaimer goes here. You know what it is.**

Chapter 7 - "Major Problem"

(3rd Person POV)

Aria was drowned out by the Host Club's hubbub immediately after tossing the bomb.

"Wait, _wait, __**WAIT A (Insert-your-own-word-here) SECOND!**_" Everything went quiet after Rei screamed, red in the face. "I'm _trying_ to be heard here!"

"Calm _down_, Habanero," Hikaru said. He'd never seen Rei blow up (much less curse like a sailor). It was…refreshing? Different than her usual bubbly randomness. Maybe she had a split personality—like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

"I _am_ calm, chili pepper!" Rei shouted back, obviously not feeling calm at all.

"Anyways, you were saying?" Aria patted her sister's shoulder complacently.

Taking a deep breath, Rei sighed. "So let me get this straight. You want the both of us to do the whole clichéd manga thing where the girls masquerade as guys in an all-male environment, and then later either hook up with the hottest guys, getting screwed by them, or create a total all-kill harem? Except in our situation, we're not really in an all-male environment, since Haruhi sorta made that invalid, and we're not interested in hooking, screwing, or killing of any sort."

"Uh…" Aria looked at her strangely. "You've been reading altogether too much manga, crazy lady."

"Don't worry-hot guys like me aren't interested in knocking up girls like you, Habanero," Hikaru called, "especially not ones that are more guy than girl."

"If I'm such a guy, then you won't be against me decking you in the face, right?"

"I can sue you for assault," he shot back defiantly.

"Tough luck, buddy," Rei said whilst grinning, "After I'm done with you, you won't even be able to form comprehensible words."

Their bickering was interrupted by another ungainly retch into the bucket, courtesy of Hani-sempai, and a dark glare. "Shut up, you two, or I'll _forcibly_ make you."

Both swallowed and looked at each other nervously.

Aria sighed. "You two are just like little kids." Turning to Kyoya, she asked, "Am I right in thinking that you have several questions to ask me?"

Nodding, the bespectacled man opened up his notebook. "Why do you feel that it is necessary for you and your sister to…prance around in a male's trappings? What is your plan? Additionally, how will this restore the Host Club's tarnished reputation, and how will it increase revenue?"

Nodding, Aria resumed her business-like countenance. "We know the Lobelians' tastes better than any of you, and from my observations, your characters at this point will not be suitable. We will have to tweak the way you speak a bit…especially you." She pointed at Tamaki, who gasped. "They'll hate you if you keep up your current character."

Rei raised her hand in acknowledgment. "I second that. You're too arrogant, not to mention completely annoying. Plus, they're definitely going to send over their strongest, and your attitude will put them off completely."

"Which brings me to my main point," Aria said, continuing. "As females ourselves, we will possess more girlish attributes than you men, which will be more attractive to the Lobelians. That was also why Benio is so bent on taking _you_, Fujioka-san," she said, nodding to Haruhi, "since you, as a female, shine out amongst these unruly, brash men, in her perspective, of course.

"The use of Rei and I in this is to make the girls more comfortable, and to create a better image of you all. You can expect Benio to spread bad rumors about you all to them, that's a given. Depending on who comes, we will choose three of the male Host Club members to effectively win them over. Once that is finished, Rei and I can spread rumors about the truth of the food-poisoning situation—beneficial to the Host Club, of course, and you will have your customers back."

"And the increase of revenue?" Kyoya prompted.

"You heard the girls today. They were practically fawning over Rei and me as females, so the male versions of us will be sure to win them over even more."

"How will you exist as both guys and girls? And what about your…stalker girl?" Kaoru asked. "What was her name? Rose Robinson?"

"Oh, that'll be easy," Rei cut in confidently. "Mom won't know since she's at Paris Fashion Week and will be working with Rodarte for a couple months, and Dad won't care, so we'll just take a temporary leave of absence to go back to America or something. Better yet, Mexico. And when Raging Red comes along, we'll just tell her that 'Yanase Rei cracked her head open after tumbling down twenty flights of stairs, so she is now recuperating in a rehabilitation facility in Tijuana'."

"Uh-huh. Like she'll believe something so obviously fabricated like that," Hikaru scoffed.

"She _will_. Trust me." Resisting his jab, Rei stuck her chin in the air. "I once sent her on a wild goose chase all over the European continent for a whole year before she realized that I was in Japan all along."

"She's that stupid, huh?"

"Oh, not really. She just lets her temper cloud over logic."

"Sounds like you two are pretty similar."

"…Want me to deck you again? I'll make you wish you were never born."

Hani-sempai growled. "SHUT UP." (Cue more barfing.)

"All right." Everyone's heads swiveled around to look at Kyoya. "We'll do it. What's your plan for our characters?"

Aria smiled. "I knew you'd come through." Walking over to the corner, she wheeled over the large whiteboard. "Rei?"

"YES! I love playing with markers!" Scampering over (and nearly tripping over herself), Rei grabbed a bright purple marker and scrawled over the top in chicken-scratch writing, "OPERATION: HOST CLUB REVAMPIFICATION/SEDUCE THE EVIL LOBELIANS!"

"First of all, you will need to reserve the whole day for the girls. It will make them feel special." At her cue, Rei wrote down "Field trip!" Aria turned to her sister. "Any suggestions?"

"The beach," she said immediately. "Private, of course. St. Lobelia is far away from the ocean, so they don't get to see the ocean much. It'll be relaxing and peaceful."

"Now, for the characters. First of all, you must be polite. Not overly gentlemanly, but sincere. And _no gut-inducing behavior, please_," Aria said pointedly, staring right at Tamaki.

"Try for the refreshing theme," Rei added. "Go out of your way to help them and assist them, but don't go all servile. Balance from being manly to being polite."

"The three who will be the most suitable so far?" Aria asked her sister.

"The twins and Takeshi-nii."

"My thoughts exactly."

Chewing on the end of the marker, Rei scribbled some more on the board thoughtfully. "We don't have much time, so you'll have to close the Host Club for a couple of days. Not that anyone will be coming, after the incident. I'll spread some good rumors, and after school, we need to start the revampification."

"We'll need a stylist…" Aria muttered. "Someone who has good fashion sense and won't subdue our plans…"

"We can call someone in from Hollywood," Kaoru proposed. "My mom knows some good celebrity stylists, and we can pass it off as a movie or something."

Rei snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

"What? We're really going for the celeb stylist?" Hikaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope. We're going to call _your_ mom!"

Immediately, Aria picked up her phone and started dialing away. "Hello? Auntie Yuzuha?"

"Waiiiiiiiiit…" Kaoru wrinkled his nose. "YOU KNOW OUR MOM?"

"And your dad, and your grandma, and your long lost twin sister—just kidding!" Rei grinned. "You have a problem with that?"

"A major problem…"

**Hi guys! Again! I have a question for y'all...since I want to start some good ol' fluff soon, I'm not sure if I should have Hikaru liking Rei first or the other way around. Kaoru and Aria will start mutually liking each other at the same time, gradually, but for me, it feels like in H/R's situation, it could go either way? Idk what do you guys think?**


	8. The Real Chapter 8

**Hi lovely readers~ Um, so this chapter was going kinda slow, and I wanted to hurry up and get rid of it (I know, that sounds really bad), soooooo...here it is, whether you like it or not. Hopefully it won't suck as bad as it does in my mind. Sorry in advance?**

**Thanks for the reviews 3 You guys rock! Keep 'em coming!**

**Also, I wanted to clear up something that user Heterochromia Eyes asked: in the last "chapter" (author's note), I mentioned that I wanted to write a Durarara! fanfic. CLARIFICATION: it will be a totally separate story, NOT affiliated with Two of a kind AT ALL. Sorry for the confusion. (sweatdrop)**

**Shout out to XxNijiNekoxX (your pen name gave me a LOT of trouble typing it out haha): thanks for the reviews and your help about writing Tamaki! They really helped :) "Corner of woe" lol**

**BlackButterfly1412: HAHAHA! YESSSS! MY EVIL PLAN WORKED! Thanks for the support, and say hello to your sister for me!**

****The title of this chapter was given to me by my friend, who may or may not be reading this: If you are, THANK YOU "CYNTHIA"!****

**Anyhoo, enough of me blabbing away. ENJOY! :) Woohoo!**

Chapter 8 - "The Day the World Ended"

What happened after the revelation was a blur. (A/N: it's actually because I'm super-duper lazy.)

First of all, it turned out that Hitachiin Yuzuha used to be college classmates with the Yanase twins' mother, and that Aria was in fact Grandma Hitachiin's protege. (Rei only tagged along for the cookies.) During that time, Rei somehow got to knew Papa Hitachiin, and they strangely became best buddies (since she was the only one, barring Yuzuha, who noticed him when no one else did).

Anyways, after all that was explained, Haruhi was alerted by her friend, Mei, that there was a half-price sale at the best supermarket in the vicinity ending in thirty minutes, prompting her to rush out hurriedly. Being a generally nosy person, Tamaki chased after her. Seeing this, Hani-sempai took this as his cue to go home and barf in his toilet. Naturally, Mori-sempai also left, since he was the one in charge of hauling the little boy away.

Which left Kyoya, Aria, Rei, Hikaru, and Kaoru, who all decided that they were too tired after the ordeal and left to go home. (Actually, it was more like Rei suffered a relapse of the sickness, threw up all over Kyoya, and ran away as fast as she could, her trusty sister following behind with a towel.)

(Hikaru's POV - in his dream)

_I was by a lake..._

_It was the lake by our country villa in Karuizawa. We went there often during the summer as children and when we had free time._

_Where were they, anyway?_

_I looked around in search of my family, but there was no one in sight. Until..._

_"Hikaru." It was a girl's voice. Haruhi? She often appeared in my dreams...it was really the only place where I was able to..._

_"Hikaru, what are you doing?" I felt something soft land on my shoulder, and I turned to Haruhi, smiling and running my hand through her soft, long hair._

_Except it wasn't Haruhi. Now that I thought about it, Haruhi didn't even have long hair._

_In utter horror, I could only watch dumbly as she leaned closer, and closer, and closer, until I realized that it was _me _who was gravitating towards her. Swallowing, I felt myself being drawn to her reddish-pink lips…_

_My eyes widening with shock, I screamed:_

"Yanase Rei!"

Kaoru shot up from next to me, a line of drool dribbling down his chin. He wiped it off gingerly as he stared at me, confused. "Whazzamatter?" he asked in a slurred voice, obviously still not completely awake.

Scrambling out of bed, I folded my arms and paced the room anxiously, sneaking a glance at the clock. 3:52 AM. Well, I sure wasn't going to be late for school today.

"Hey, Kaoru..."

"Yeah?" He yawned loudly. "Make it snappy—I wanna go back to sleeeeep."

Swallowing nervously, I returned to the bed and sat cross-legged on it. "I have a question for you-a hypothetical question, so d-don't take it too seriously. 'Cause it's not like it's real or something stupid like that."

He rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh."

"Um, well, what if, hypothetically speaking of course, a male...uh...thought about a female...in his sleep?" I fidgeted uneasily.

Kaoru furrowed his brow. "You mean...you had a dream about a girl?" He adopted a devilish smile. I longed to punch him. "Namely, Yanase Rei?"

"I did not!" I shouted defensively.

"Ooh, in denial," Kaoru snickered. "So you like her, then?"

I paled. "...Is that what it means?"

"Aha!" Kaoru grinned, but sobered when I threw a glare at him. "OK, well, it might not be like that. It depends on the content of your dream."

"Content?" I asked.

"Yeah. Like, was it a kind of romantic kind of thing—like a fantasy, I guess, or were you guys fighting like normal?"

"I..." I couldn't tell him that I was going to kiss her! What would Kaoru think of me then? What would I think of MYSELF, then?

I tried not to think of the niggling thought in my mind that maybe, if I acknowledged that I had tried to make an advance on her (albeit in a dream), it would happen in reality.

I shuddered when her face popped into my mind, and I flushed considerably.

Embarrassed, I shot up and ran out of the room, yelling behind me, "I'm gonna go dye my hair!"

"Way to avoid the subject, Hikaru!" Kaoru yelled back, laughing like a stupid hyena.

Dashing into the bathroom, I locked the door behind me and slammed open the cupboard to look for some dye. Taking a dark reddish-black color, I set it on the counter and started dampening my hair. After I had worked the formula into my roots, I sighed and relaxed. Dyeing my hair always had a sort of relaxing quality for me—that and art, but only Kaoru knew that.

Now that I was sufficiently relaxed, I could think more clearly and calmly. The dream didn't really mean anything. It only happened once, anyhow—it would only matter if it happened _multiple_ times. And it wasn't like I was trying to _kiss_ her in the dream-ugh. I probably just tripped or something and she happened to be standing in the way.

Yeah. That's right. Yanase Rei was nothing to me. She was just the village idiot-the crazy Habanero of Ouran.

Still...she wasn't bad-looking. She was actually kind of pretty, when she took the time to actually put real clothes on. Just seeing her in training sweats annoyed the heck out of me. She'd never get a boyfriend looking as sloppy as that.

...Did she ever have a boyfriend before?

I shook my head, laughing. If _Haruhi_ never had a boyfriend (before Tono), then Habanero would have even less of a chance!

...but there were definitely some guys in class that were looking at Rei in _that_ way.

_No, no, no, stop thinking weird thoughts, Hikaru_, I told myself. Yanase Rei is a habanero to you and nothing more. The day you will ever have affections for her is the day the world will end.

"Dye, dye, dye," I chanted, hoping to distract myself. Gosh, did she really have to torture me even in my head? _Oh, just shut up and dye your freakin' hair, stupid._

"I hope it's not Rei you want to kill," Kaoru called from outside the door.

Feeling oddly irritated, I snapped, "Why? You like her or something?"

"You jealous?"

"Get your brain checked, Kaoru." I was just being cautious, for Kaoru's sake. Wouldn't want somebody with MY face ending up with someone like her.

"Nah, I just thought that Aria wouldn't be very happy if you killed off her sister, that's all."

Oh. So he just cared about the other twin, huh.

I stopped massaging my soapy head and frowned. Wait a second. Kaoru cared about the other twin? Cared _for_, maybe?

Oh, dang. My little brother had a crush on the businesswoman. Whatever her name was...Oreo? Well, she was loads better than Habanero. She had some style, at least.

I gasped, my soapy hands frozen in mid-air. I had the best idea ever. _This is going to be exciting_.

"Kaoru! Do you-"

Kaoru interrupted me quickly. "I found something from Mom's stack of magazines that you might find helpful. It's one of those quiz things. Putting it here."

"...you read girly magazines?" I asked in disbelief, momentarily distracted from my brilliant plan.

"No! It just happened to be lying around, and I found it..."

I sniggered, happy that I had found one of Kaoru's newest weaknesses. "Uh-huh. Sure you did, girly-magazine-reading Kaoru."

"Want me to broadcast all your embarrassing moments from the day we were born to Rei? I have her number on speed dial," Kaoru threatened.

I froze. "...you have her number?" Unlocking the door, I stuck my head out. "Gimme."

"Why?"

"I have a brilliant plan to execute, and she's going to be my pawn." It wasn't a lie. I did have a plan, and she WAS going to be my pawn.

"Too bad. Get it from her yourself." Sneakily, Kaoru stuck his tongue out at me and dashed away.

"HEY! You-" I stopped and sighed. Hair comes first.

"Dye, dye, dye…"

**SEVERAL HOURS LATER**

The moment we entered the school, I knew that something was up.

Firstly, nobody cooed or fawned over me and Kaoru (we even tried to pull off one of our lesser-seen homo scenes, but there was NO REACTION WHATSOEVER).

"It's probably because of the food poisoning," Kaoru whispered to me.

We got to class and, in an attempt to draw attention, arrived loudly. Habanero and Oreo were the only ones to have any real reaction, and only Rei rushed over. (Haruhi was suspiciously absent.)

Crap.

Swallowing hard, I struggled to maintain a cool façade and somehow forget about the dream. "W-what's up with your clothes, Habanero? Training for a track meet?"

Rei had discarded the polka-dotted dress she had worn the day before and instead was clad in her normal sweats. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind my poorly-phrased insult. "Oh, no, the track team here's sexist and they don't allow girls." She grinned. "I'm training for sports day!"

"Sports day is a month away, Rei," Kaoru reminded her.

Nonchalantly, Rei shrugged. "Physically, you have to start preparing at least a month in advance."

"Sheesh, nobody really cares—" I started to say, but suddenly, someone bumped into me. "Hey, who—"

"Oh, so the _host club_ has the idiocy to stand in the doorway, too, huh?" Oh. It was Sawara, one of the real idiots of the class. He had an inflated ego that was even bigger than Tono's. He was also part of the chess club, which had a self-named rivalry against the host club.

Snorting, Sawara continued pompously. "Aren't you guys so full of yourselves, going around and poisoning the girls…I always knew there was something wrong with that club."

Flaring up, I glared at the (insert appropriate noun here) and, effectively using my height, towered over him menacingly. "Care to repeat that again?"

He swallowed, but was backed up by a couple other boys. "Yeah, you guys are so full of yourselves. I bet you were _plotting_ to kill the girls all along!"

Another one spat at the floor. "I genuinely feel bad for your parents—to have _demon spawn_ like you two!"

Growling, I dove forward to give the three what they deserved, but was stopped when I heard a resounding slap and a terrific crash as the three boys collapsed to the ground.

At first, I thought it was Habanero who had slapped the spitting punk, but looking closer, it was Oreo, who had a strangely furious look on her face. The other two guys were sprawled onto the floor, which I recognized as Habanero's handiwork.

I hate to admit it, but she was kind of…_cool_.

"You have no right to insult Hikaru and Kaoru like that when you hardly know them," Oreo said, oddly scary although she was talking at a normal volume. "You are in no position to judge the situation when you have no idea what really happened."

Rei stood, brushing her hands off. "Truth is, guys, the host club was _framed_."

Cue dramatic gasp from the audience.

"Yeah, creepy, right?" Rei continued, strolling to the front of the classroom as if she was confiding to the class and telling them a deep, dark secret. "Fujioka Haruhi's being targeted by a secret organization filled with ruthless female assassins called ZUKA," she said without skipping a beat, "and they want to kidnap him and lock him away for being so beautiful—they have a grudge for pretty boys."

"Oh, no…" one of the other girls in the class whispered. "That's horrible!"

Habanero nodded knowingly. "This is one of their plans—to turn all of you against the host club by putting poison into the cakes. Y'see, the host club _wasn't_ the perpetrator! Even Hani-sempai was poisoned, which is why he's still at home." She pointed to herself. "I was affected too, but since I have a pretty good digestive system, I got rid of the side-effects faster.

"The host club needs your help," she continued smoothly. "The host club has acquired the information from an outer source telling us that ZUKA will send out three designated assassins in a couple days. It will be the host club who will deal with these criminals once and for all, but we will need your help and trust to _truly_ apprehend these…these…" She looked to her sister for help.

"Malicious abominations," Aria (that's it!—her name was _Aria_!) helpfully supplied.

"Right! These magnanimous alliterations!"

"That's not what she said, Habanero," I smirked.

"Oh, shut up, you're just being jealous that I know big words and you don't," she whispered back. "Anyways, what do you say? Go with the club or just be a bub?"

There was a long silence after that, and she sighed. "Sorry. That was the only thing I could come up with after such short notice."

"I…I believe you!" One of our regulars stood up, a hanky to her nose.

"Me too!"

Before I knew it, the whole class (excluding the three punks) had somehow been swayed back to us.

I glanced at Rei.

She had just persuaded a class of twenty two people in less than two minutes.

Habanero was a fearsome woman.

…Maybe that was why my heart was pumping so fast.

(Rei POV)

I grinned. Just as Glasses Guy had planned.

I didn't know why he had wanted me to make an impromptu speech in front of the class, but it had worked, just as he'd said.

I glanced at Aria, who seemed to be trying to remind me of something.

"Uh…"

"Rumors," she prompted quietly.

"Oh yeah! Since the whole school's pretty much under the illusion that the host club purposely staged the poisoning incident, it would help a lot if you could spread the news around—and the ZUKA stuff, too. The host club will be temporarily closed in order to track the assassins, but we'll keep you posted." I glanced at Aria. "Anything else…?"

"Us," she hinted again.

"Oh, right! Turns out we're going back to America to, er, do some modeling! Right! At New York Fashion Week!" I twiddled my fingers nervously, hoping that nobody would notice the fact that both Aria and I were 5'4" and completely disqualified from modeling, and that fashion week at NYC had ended a long time ago. "And our…_cousins_, w-who are also twins, will be taking our place!"

"We have a long line of twins in our family," Aria added quickly, covering up for my blunder.

"Ah…I see…" the class echoed.

I breathed a sigh of relief. They'd bought it. It was unrealistic and awkward, but they'd bought it!

…were they idiots or something?

No, no, no, you're thinking mean thoughts, Rei. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Like a Teletubby.

"Ahem, well then, now that we've got things all cleared up…" I turned to Hikaru and gasped. "YOU DYED YOUR HAIR!"

He rolled his eyes. "You just noticed?"

**After School; Host Club Meeting**

"Good job," Glasses Guy complimented me. "The news is all over school already."

I did a mock-curtsy (which is pretty hard when you have baggy sweatpants on). "Thanks!"

Tamaki was sobbing in his little corner. "HARUHI'S NOT HERE!"

"Oh yeah, she called me last night to tell me that she'd had a late lapse of poisoning from the cake," I said, recalling the conversation that consisted her croaking away and throwing up at the same time (at the end, the phone had to be intercepted by her dad).

"GAAAAAHHH…" Tamaki whimpered in the background. "THAT'S IT! I MUST GO VISIT HER IMMEDIATELY! MEETING ADJOURNED!" He rushed out.

"Meeting not adjourned," Kyoya said sternly, but then he started to look a little green.

Then:

"BLECHHHHHHH!"

"Ew…"

**Thirty Minutes and A Lot of Grossness Later**

So we got Glasses Guy cleaned up and sent home, and then we figured that we might as well play around since nobody else was there. (I could tell that Aria was equally happy, since she seemed to be swamped with work things to do.)

Then I noticed something _weird_: Kaoru kept on _staring_ at her.

Like, not creeper-staring.

But like…the kind of staring where you can't _help_ but stare.

Evidently Aria didn't seem to _mind_ him staring (she obviously noticed but decided not to say anything about it).

_Ooh la la, what do we have here?_

This was going to be so fun.

(Hikaru POV)

I noticed Rei sidling up to me and stiffened. Then I remembered the plan I had concocted in the bathroom.

"Hey, I have an idea—" I stopped when she said the exact same thing.

"Sorry."

"No, you go first."

"Really? OK, then—"

"That was out of politeness," I interrupted her. "Since I'm (probably) older than you, I'm going first."

"Oh yeah?" Rei tilted her chin up feistily. "When?"

"June 9."

She snapped her fingers. "Darn. Mine's in October."

Laughing triumphantly, I continued. "Anyways, I had a brilliant plan after discovering something this morning."

Habanero interrupted me in her excitement. "Let me guess—we have to get our siblings together."

I stopped, and raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know…?"

Cheekily, Rei flashed a gleeful V-sign at me and grinned. "Great minds think alike, huh?"

I swallowed.

Uh-oh.

The world just ended.

**OK guys, how was it? Super? Horrible? In between? Comment and let me know.**

**ALSO, in case you didn't get it (I wasn't sure how clear it would be, so let me make it clear): remember when Hikaru said in the beginning that the day he admits to liking Rei will be the day the world ends? And then at the end, he says "the world just ended"? Eh? Eh?**

**One last thing...I know I'm not good at writing romance, which is stupid, because I'm writing a ROMANCE story. (STUPID ME!) But I'm working on making it not-too-cheesy, I promise... *sigh* I think this whole chapter is just so awkward...**

**I'M SORRY! Gah.**

**Oh, and I just wanted to say two last things: 1) Releases will be once a week (hopefully) 2) Next chapter will be a "fishbowl", which is what I call one of those short-ish chapters completely from one specific person's perspective. Kinda like the first chapter. Fishbowls remind me of a crossover between prose and poetry...anyways, it's on Aria (will be a sort of development between her and Kaoru).**

**See you next time!**


	9. Chapter 8 point 5

**I'M ON A ROLL, BABY! :) This is the "fishbowl" I promised you all, ahead of time. Hee hee!**

**I guess this is just one of those things where it's written like a person's train of thought; it changes sporadically, and is generally quite confusing except to the one who thought it (or wrote it). So just a warning: you might find this abrupt/confusing, since I wrote it as if I was Aria thinking. (Or maybe this is just a cover up for poor writing? hahaha)**

**I'm not sure as to whether or not I want to include this in the story... It's kind of heavy/too dramatic in my opinion. But hey, this is the rich people society, which (at least in the Ouran world) has a LOT of weird/dramatic stuff happening in it, so it might be okay?**

**Thanks to: radioactivepenguin13, poison innocence, and XxNijiNekoxX. You guys are awesome, and I'm glad you like it so far. :)**

**Enjoy! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!**

[Fishbowl #1: Aria]

Humans constantly have misconceptions about other humans based on the way they look or act.

I've noticed it to be a recurring trait in my surroundings.

For example: just because someone's physique is generally appealing, it does not mean that EVERYTHING about them is appealing. Take Tamaki, for instance. He has many admirers (not that I can see _why_), yet he is an absolute idiot sometimes (correction: most of the time).

It baffles me as to how he's at the top of his class (after Kyoya, I believe). I'd had the notion that his brain was the size of a pea, but apparently my assumptions were wrong.

Case in point: humans are constantly disillusioned based on appearances.

I do try my best to take an unbiased perspective on everything and using fair judgment, which I do most of the time. (That is yet another difference between me and my sister: the word 'unbiased' doesn't even exist in her dictionary.)

But why…

Why had I so passionately jumped to the twins' defense? I had even struck one of the buffoons, which was, to say the least, extremely uncharacteristic of me.

Why?

The moment those appalling words came out of that ignoramus's mouth, I reacted violently and immediately defended the twins.

No…not the twins.

Kaoru.

But why?

It was plain that I was attracted to him…his playful demeanor that reminded me of Rei's, but was distinctly different for the fact that he was _gentle_.

Yes, he was gentle, and kind, and, and…

Oh. I see now.

I was hopelessly enamored with him.

Hitachiin Kaoru.

No, no, no, this wouldn't do. Especially as the successor to the Yanase family, my shamelessly being attracted to one of the Hitachiin twins would not sit well with the peers. After all, they did have a reputation for being rude, unprofessional, and even acting incestuous or homosexual, though they plainly were not any of the two.

No, the higher ups would marry me off through a carefully planned omiai, and I would combine the Yanase Empire with another prized kingdom, and bring honor and glory to our family…

I envied Rei. I truly, truly envied her.

She was absolutely unsuitable for the closely guarded lifestyle of a successor, which was why she was allowed freedom.

No, Aria, you stop this train of thought this instant. It was _you_ who made the decision to set Rei free. _You_ took this path, and you cannot look back.

Yes. I will lock these insufferable feelings away in a box, never to be opened again. I will fulfill my duty properly.

But…

_Kaoru_…

My lifestyle is rigid, strict, and inflexible. I follow a set routine every day, and I obey my peers unconditionally.

Just this once…

Just this once…

I want to escape this cage.

Then, when the time comes, I will obediently fly back in, never to see the sunlight again.


	10. Chapter 9

**Hi! Sorry for the late release-blame it on prom, late night studying, horrible teachers cramming homework into you, not being happy with the chapter I wrote, etc etc etc. Takes a lot out of a person.**

**I'm trying out something new today: since I know that I tend to ramble and some of you just want to jump forward to the story, I will _ITALICIZE_ the important points that I will mention. Everything else you can ignore, if you want. But I'll feel happy if you read everything. :)**

_I'm speeding up the storyline! If anyone remembers, I mentioned in the past chapters that the Lobelians would "attack" in a week's time or something. Well, let's just make the deadline shorter than that. Also, I probably won't introduce Yuzuha (H&K's mom) just yet..._

**Thank you, to all my beloved reviewers! Shout outs to: radioactivepenguin13, Poison Innocence, Golden Yarn, AnimeFanCrazy197, Animefreak Amii, Diamond Rainbows, Taylor, BlackButterfly1412, and Nameless Andie.**

**BlackButterfly1412****: You're not stupid! I admit that, after rereading it, it wasn't stated as clearly as it should have been... Basically, Hikaru and Rei want to get Aria and Kaoru together. Also, yes, Kyoya got infected. He's at home right now, barfing into his toilet.**

_It looks like a lot of people enjoyed Aria's fishbowl chapter...any suggestions as to who I should write about next? Also, I got a tentative idea inspired from those YouTube blogger giveaways...how would you guys like it if I included an OC character of your own making as a cameo in one of the chapters? I won't be able to write a whole entire page about them or something, because 1) that wouldn't be fair to you/the character, since I obviously won't know him/her well enough 2) that wouldn't be fair to me, because again, I don't know the character well enough._

_So, I thought that, since I'm nearing 50 reviews, it would be a nice celebration thing. I'm still thinking of requirements (like, you must be a repeat, non-anonymous reviewer) but first I wanted to know if anyone was interested. If so, I'll post an author's note soon. If not, then pretend this never happened. Another idea of a requirement thing is that I'll ask a question (ex. "What was the very first anime I watched?") and whoever gets the closest answer will receive the OC cameo chance. I dunno. Comment in the reviews section if you're interested/have any ideas._

_Anyways, here is the chapter~ Enjoy, and as always, reviews are love._

**P.S. I just found these amazing "horizontal rulers" and I'm going crazy using them. :) Hehehe k bye!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9 – Early Notice<p>

(3rd Person POV)

**The Next Day**

"Oh, crap." Rei swallowed as she saw the familiar short, Raggedy-Ann look-a-like entering the school gates. "It's the Raging Redhead."

Whirling around, she nervously scanned all possible routes of escape. No such luck, since right now was the Ouran "rush hour", otherwise known as the impossible time when all of the students decided to come. The crowd meant that she could easily be hidden, but with the amount of people, she couldn't easily escape from the human wave. Also, Rose Robinson somehow had a pretty good knack on sensing where I was. It was like she carried a Rei Radar or something. (Hey! That rhymed!)

So, the only logical thing to do (in Rei's head, at least) was to shimmy up the nearby pillar and leap onto the crystal chandelier. Now, I don't know if _you_ know, but crystal chandeliers are usually quite wobbly and delicate, and not at all good things to cling onto. Plus, the crystals made awful jingling sounds that, even in the ruckus, _everyone_ could hear. So obviously, the people with good ears looked up, which made everyone else look up.

As a normal human being (with just a lot more flexibility and agility), Rei tended to sweat when she got nervous, especially around Rose Robinson. When you sweat, you excrete liquid, which makes your fingers slip off from whatever you are grabbing onto (in this case, a swinging crystal chandelier). When your fingers slip while you're clinging onto a delicate, swinging object for dear life, you naturally lose your grip. When you lose your grip, you fall. When you fall, well…let's just say it wasn't pretty.

In any case, what happened was that Rei fell with a crash, knocked out at least a couple of students in the process, and alerted Rose Robinson's Rei Radar all at once.

"YANASE REI!" the redhead screamed, and started charging towards Rei like a bull towards a red cloth, which was ironic considering that Rose Robinson was famed for being…red.

The crowd dispersed like Moses parting the Red Sea, and Rei gulped, turned, and ran for the wind. "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!" she yelled.

"I WAS SENT TO SCOPE OUT THE SITUATION!" Rose hollered, hot on her heels.

Rei ran up a flight of stairs and went towards the classrooms, hoping to lose her. Unfortunately, Rose Robinson had easily followed, and was about to grab her collar when…

"HIYAH!" Grabbing a nearby trashcan (a worker was on his way to empty it out), she aimed with uncanny accuracy and threw it so that it landed right into the redhead's face. "Take that, sucker!"

Time to run again.

Anyways, as you probably know by now, Rei has a very odd, unnatural way of thinking. Whereas Aria would be very calm and logical ("The first thing to do is have the security apprehend the outside student from trespassing"), she went for the complete opposite ("The first thing to do is disguise myself and set traps!"). Also, another thing about Rei was that she liked to rope people in to do things that they didn't want to do.

Today's accomplice was Hitachiin Hikaru, who happened to be walking by.

"Habanero? WHOA!" Hikaru yelped when he was grabbed by the collar and dragged into the nearby closet.

Pushing him in forcefully, Rei jumped in and peeked out of a tiny crack. Confused, Hikaru fought to find a more comfortable position, squished among the array of brooms, mops, and other cleaning tools. "What—" he started to say, but Rei shushed him.

"I'm being followed."

Hikaru froze up, and curiously tried to peek out of the crack as well. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he tried to push her down in order to get a good look outside. It was only then that he realized how close together they were.

Rei's back was pushed to his chest, and her head near his cheek. Her shoulders, in comparison to his hands, were small and delicate.

In an instant, Hikaru could feel the blood rushing up to his face, and he felt the hair on his arms bristle. His heart thumped erratically—it wasn't a very comfortable feeling.

"Stop pushing me!" Pushing her hand on the crook of his elbow, Rei glared at him, annoyed.

Swallowing audibly, Hikaru was glad for once that it was dark. Yet…it was _dark_. And they were in a cramped room. Together.

_She was so close…_

Rei, however, was blissfully unaware of the dangerous situation she was in. In a low whisper, she spoke, continuing to look up at Hikaru. "Look, remember that crazy carrot top stalker I told you about a couple days ago? The one who poisoned all the food?"

Hikaru could only manage an absent-minded nod.

"Well, she's here and—hello? Are you listening?" Catching his dazed expression, Rei waved her hand a couple times in front of his face.

"Huh?" Hikaru blinked a couple times. "Y-Yeah."

"Like I said, she's here and—"

"_What_? She's _here_?"

"SH!" Rei shushed him again. "Keep your voice down—she should be around here."

"Sorry." Hikaru tried again, in a quiet voice this time. "So she's here? Why?"

"To scope everything out. Anyways, she's seen me and I need a disguise." The bell rang, and Rei slapped her forehead. "And somehow not get in trouble for skipping classes."

"We'll make up an elaborate story later. As for the disguises…" Hikaru pondered thoughtfully. "Disguises?" A pleased grin made its way onto his face. "Costumes."

* * *

><p><strong>Roughly Fifteen Minutes Later<strong>

"…Our school seems to be extremely into the whole costumes stuff," Rei commented.

They were in the school's costume room, which was the size of two or three classrooms put together and filled with boxes of accessories, wigs, and at least thirty racks of clothing, all neatly labeled and categorized.

"The Host Club donates the costumes that we purchase to the Costume Club on the condition that we can borrow costumes as we please," Hikaru said as he rummaged through a rack, "so don't worry, we're covered."

"Who should I dress up as?" Rei asked excitedly. She loved costumes.

Running to one of the racks, she pulled out a doctor's outfit. "A doctor?"

"No, you'll stick out. Um…oh!" Hikaru pulled out a baseball uniform. "This one!"

Rei rolled her eyes. "Like that doesn't stick out at all…"

* * *

><p>"Are you done yet?" Hikaru called from outside of the makeshift dressing room (a curtain).<p>

"Ugh…I look ridiculous! This uniform is at least one size too large! And these…these chest wrappings are squeezing the heck out of me! They're like corsets!" Rei whined. "I refuse to come out!"

"You wear sweaty training gear every day and you barely have any boobs to begin with," Hikaru snapped, starting to feel a little angry. "Stop your whining and come out."

"YOU DARE TO SAY THAT TO A LADY? HOW DARE YOU!" Rei all but screamed. "Fine. Just…don't laugh."

The curtain slid open, and she stepped out in the baseball uniform (which was, admittedly, a little bit too big) and a dark brown men's wig on her head. In an attempt to imitate a male's voice, she croaked, "H-How do I look…bro?"

Folding his arms, Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Stop that. Guys don't say stuff like that, and they don't talk like that, either."

"Well, how should I talk, then?" Rei demanded. "I sound like a girl!"

"You can be a girly guy." Stepping to the side, Hikaru nodded authoritatively. "Now, walk."

"Huh?"

"Walk like a guy. Not necessarily bow-legged, but kind of with a swagger," Hikaru dictated.

Cautiously, Rei 'swaggered' down the room.

"Stop. You look like you're doing a very bad imitation of a chicken dance." Scratching his head, Hikaru sighed. "Just walk like normal."

When she relaxed and walked back towards him, Hikaru smiled and nodded. "I knew it. You're really a boy at heart."

"Thank—hey!"

He laughed. "Okay, Habanero, you're ready. C'mon—let's go capture that little rat."

A sinister smile crept onto Rei's face as she grabbed a baseball bat, tapping it on her shoulder. "Copy that."

_**REVIEW!**_


	11. Chapter 10

Okay guys...here goes. I have to say that I'm still feeling like a fish out of water on this one, but whatever. Please, please, PLEASE, **review** for this chapter, because I'm not sure how you all will take it... As in, it's not racy or controversial or anything, but...I feel like I'm walking on a tightrope here!

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

(Rei's POV)

"Dun dun dun DUH dun...duhduhdunnnnnDUHDUN..." Imagining that my baseball bat was a gun, I whirled around in the hallway, quietly singing the James Bond theme song.

"Oh, will you stop that?" Hikaru hissed crossly. "The tension's thick enough as it is. I just _know_ something bad will happen while you're goofing off."

Continuing my charade, I flashed a smoldering (okay, maybe it wasn't so hot) stare at Hikaru and said in a deep voice, "The name's Bond. James Bond. And I like my milkshakes shaken, not stirred."

He rolled his eyes in response. "Oh, really? I thought that your name was Idiot Habanero With a Brain the Size of a Pea."

"I do _not_ have a pea-sized brain! I'll have you know that I was accepted for all the special classes in Ouran this year!" I almost yelled, but remembered to whisper just in time.

"Yeah, special. Special Ed," he retorted.

I punched him in the arm and stared up at him, oddly upset. I was pretty used to people calling me weird names or making offensive remarks, but when Hikaru was the one saying it, it struck home even more than the others did. I guess it was because we were supposed to be a team. "You're being a meanie bobini," I muttered.

He was silent for a moment, and then he patted my head (well, it was more like he was patting my wig) gently. "Sorry. I took it too far, didn't I?"

"It's okay. I'm used to it." I turned to continue down the hallway, but he pulled me back urgently.

"What do you mean, 'I'm used to it'?" he asked, his face darkening. "Do people make fun of you or something?"

"It's nothing serious, it's just that I'm not everyone's cup of tea, that's all. Some people think I'm annoying, others think I'm flat-out weird." I laughed. "Don't worry about it."

Despite my attempt to laugh it off, Hikaru looked strangely solemn. "Don't ever say that you're "used to it", all right? If this happens again, I give you full permission to give whoever had the nerve to insult you what they deserve, got it?"

"Isn't this more of my problem than your problem?" I asked indignantly. "When did you become so nosy?"

Angrily, he snapped, "When I started lik—" Abruptly, Hikaru cut himself off. "Never mind. It's not important. What _is_ important is to not let anyone…belittle you like that."

"…Fine," I allowed. Suddenly, I noticed the proximity of our faces, and nervously tried to step back, but with Hikaru's arms locked around my shoulders, I wasn't able to. "Ehm...Hikaru?"

"What?" It seemed like he didn't notice it yet.

"Since I'm kind of dressed up as a guy right now, if anybody saw us, this would be a very awkward situation."

He finally looked at our position, reddened, and thrust me away. "Sorry."

"No prob."

We started walking down the hallway again, albeit more awkwardly than before.

"Dun dun dun DUH dun...duhduhdunnnnn..."

Hikaru groaned. "That _again_?"

* * *

><p>(Aria's POV)<p>

I glanced at the screen of my cell phone. On the map of our school was a blinking red light, signifying Rei's location. "It looks like she's just randomly walking around the school," Kaoru commented.

"No, she has got to have some sort of objective-" The blinking red dot crashed into a nearby wall. "-or not."

"Let's just go back to class, then," Kaoru sighed, rubbing his head wearily. "While we're at it, we can do our siblings a favor and cook up some kind of excuse."

"That is," I interjected, "if they have a good enough excuse for _us_."

Right then, there was a rumbling roar and I briefly saw Rose Robinson as she hurtled past us, growling, "_Yanase...Rei_!"

We were silent as we watched the red blur grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared entirely.

"...Think that's a good enough reason?" Kaoru asked me, raising an eyebrow.

I rolled up the cuffs of my sleeves. "What do you think?"

"We should probably start chasing after that loony, shouldn't we?" Kaoru cracked his knuckles, a delighted smile brightening his face.

"What do you think?" I pulled my hair tightly back into a ponytail.

"Yup."

I patted his head accordingly. "Good boy."

* * *

><p>(Rei's POV)<p>

Well, it turned out that I didn't get to demonstrate my uber-professional Kung Fu swag, because Kaoru and Aria happened to capture the Red Menace before we did.

I was a little disappointed in this aspect, but in the end we all took turns poking fun at her (we tied her up against a chair in the host club room) while Ohtori-sempai took the chance to verbally abuse her for the food-poisoning fiasco (it was after school by that time).

I guess I was supposed to feel guilty, but as you can probably tell, I didn't feel guilty in the least. In fact, I felt oddly happy. Maybe I was developing a sadist's personality or something like that.

By the time we got Rose to talk, she finally admitted that in the Zuka club's view, the whole 'eleven days worth of preparation time' was completely invalid. In other words, they were trying to _cheat_, and they weren't even planning to come to the host club to compete.

Basically all of our plans were for _nothing_.

Now I don't know if you're starting to get a little mad, but I was _furious. _If I could hate anything in the world the most, it would be cheating. I absolutely detested cheating. Did they take us to be idiots or something? Were they just going to take Haruhi in the middle of the night or something while we weren't looking?

We were blockheads to be caught in their ruse so easily.

My face darkening, I ground my teeth, irritated. "You-"

Blocking me, Aria intercepted. "How are we supposed to solve this situation, then, Robinson? Now that your side has broken all promises and trust, we are unable to trust you again."

She pursed her lips. "I don't know."

Hikaru stepped up. "So, I guess we'll have to take care of her, huh?"

Grinning, Kaoru reached for my baseball bat. "Don't worry—we'll just hurt you enough to erase your memories, that's all."

"W-Wait!" Rose yelled, looking genuinely scared. "Give me my cell phone. I'll call Benibara-sama, and you guys can talk it out with her."

"Where?" I asked.

"In my purse." She gestured to the pink purse lying on the floor nearby.

Scrambling to pick it up, Kaoru was the one who dialed the number in the phone book.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi, is this Benibara?"

"…_Rose?"_

"No, this is Kaoru."

"_Who are you?"_

Impatiently, Kaoru yelled into the phone, "HITACHIIN KAORU!"

"…_Ahh, the impertinent monkey at the Ouran host club."_

Fuming, Kaoru tossed the phone to Aria, who dropped it. "Hello, Benio-san?" she asked when she picked it up.

"_Oh, hello, Aria, how's your little brat of a sister?"_

Putting her hand over my mouth, Aria replied, "Oh, she's doing much better than you, thank you. Anyhow, the reason why we're calling is because we have Rose Robinson here next to us, who has revealed that the Zuka Club has broken our agreement."

"_Hm…maybe so."_

"Then, I suppose you all are giving up on Haruhi? If that is so, then goodbye." Aria made to shut off the phone, but Benio quickly shouted, _"No! No, I didn't mean that!"_

"All right then, since we are _very_ compassionate people, how will we decide the winner?"

"…_How about this. Tomorrow come to the X Resort in Y place. We will have one girl hidden amongst a crowd in the resort from the Zuka club. She will be wearing a white-gold Tiffany bracelet. If you are able to get the bracelet within the time limit, we will cease our pursuit towards Haruhi."_

"How is this fair?" I couldn't help butting in indignantly.

"_When you arrive at the resort, go to the front desk. I will have booked one suite for you all. When you get to the room, you will find a complete profile of the girl."_

"That'll be easy," Hikaru said, obviously up for the challenge.

"_Not so fast. The girl I will choose will be from the Sakata family."_ Benio laughed as Aria and I looked at each other in horror. _"Rose will give you the address of the resort. Well then, have a lovely day!"_

_Beep…beep…beep…_

Sighing, Aria snapped the phone shut. "Who's the Sakata family?" Tamaki-sempai asked.

"They make up the bodyguards of the Zuka club." I swallowed.

"Um…so?"

"Their family members are experts in stealth, attack, and defense. In other words, their family is composed of shinobi."

"_Ninja?_" Hikaru widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Furthermore, they are currently on par with the Haninozuka family," Aria sighed.

"So, you're saying that whoever will be at the resort will be at Hani-sempai's level?" Tamaki-sempai wheezed.

Aria and I looked at each other and nodded. "Yup."

"Crap," everyone said in unison.

"Yup."

* * *

><p><strong>Well? Was it good? Bad? (hides under bed, waiting for rotten tomatoes and pies to be catapulted) Please, please, please review...I have no idea how to judge myself on this chapter.<strong>


	12. Chapter 11

**UPDATES ON STORY PROGRESS WILL BE POSTED ON MY PROFILE PAGE! I highly encourage you to check out my progress on the next chapter if you're sick and tired of waiting for my snail-speed writing.**

**REVIEW FOR EARLY RELEASES!**

Okay guys, I know that these chapters so far have been Rei-centric. But I promise you that after the "Zuka arc" ends, it will focus more on Aria and Kaoru.

This chapter is a little longer than what I usually write, and according to my plan, it was actually supposed to be longer. BUT I decided to cut it into two chapters. For the suspense, ya know?

**WARNING: major cheese ahead. Well, maybe not so major, but some of you might find it a little childish for me to write like this? Oh well. I'm all for friends, anyway.**

**Also, something I forgot last chapter: THANK YOU SO MUCH for all my readers and reviewers. You guys are what make these chapters happen. Even if they're not that good. THANK YOU THANK YOU!**

To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty surprised at how nice you all are. This is my first fanfiction, ever, and even though my writing isn't quite up to the status quo (or whatever), I haven't received a real "flame" yet. I intend to keep it that way, so people who want to spite me, DON'T DO IT! (But I re-read my chapters of late and I almost gagged. My writing sucks. I'm probably going to go back someday and change it. Goodness.) Sigh. I need some cookies.

**Shout out! (radioactivepenguin13, poison innocence, AnimeFanCrazy197, Animefreak Amii, AnimeFlowerGirl, S. McIntosh, Takara Fujioka, XxNijiNyanCatxX, XxNiji-The-Pedo-BearxX (why do I get the feeling that the two of you may/may not be the same person/related somehow?), and last but not least SandShinobi21) **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 11<p>

**THE NEXT DAY**

(3rd Person POV)

The host club (and Rose Robinson) piled into the large Hummer limo as they embarked on the 1 hour 30 minute journey to the resort. Being the natural woman-in-charge, Aria reviewed their general plans.

"As we are without Hani-sempai, Mori-sempai, and Kyoya-sempai, we are at a great disadvantage, not only by numbers but by skill as well," Aria noted.

Rei cut in, growling as she clenched her fists, displeased. "They planned this, didn't they? The food poisoning incident was just to get rid of our best players." Energetically, she pumped her fist into the air. "Don't worry, guys, you have _me_ to make up for the loss!"

Leaning on the window, Hikaru sighed dourly. "Yeah, well, we all don't really trust you, plus you get lost and sidetracked too easily."

"Don't underestimate me, Hikaru!" Rei insisted. "You're looking at the ace of the gymnastics team at St. Lobelia! Plus, I won the national championships back in America. So ha!"

Kaoru put his head in his lap. "Gymnastics versus epic ninja skills. We will _so_ win," he intoned sarcastically.

Guiltily, Haruhi looked at her own folded hands. "I'm sorry, guys…this was my fault. It's because of me that you're all so down."

"Don't say that, Haruhi!" Tamaki pleaded. "C'mon, I'll give you Kuma-chan…just cheer up, okay?"

"Why would I want this gross bear?" Even though she said this, Haruhi took the ugly bear with a small smile. "…Thanks, Tamaki-sempai."

"Yeah! We're all friends here! So Hikaru, Kaoru, Aria, let's all win this together!"

The three sighed deeply. "Woo-hoo," Hikaru cheered half-heartedly.

"Yay," Kaoru followed his brother in the display of sarcasm.

Aria was quiet for a moment, but she quickly flashed a small smile at the group. "Rei is right. If we back down now, we'll just be admitting our loss. At the very least, we can put up a fight." Once she had everyone's attention, she took a deep breath. "Here are the blueprints of the resort as well as a map of the outside."

After each person had received a copy, she continued. "Memorize these as best you can. We will be split into pairs: Haruhi-Tamaki, Hikaru-Rei, and Kaoru with me. Also, I took the liberty of adding an electronic version of the maps to each of your cell phones, so take that out now."

As everyone looked at their maps, they saw outlines of several locations in blue, red, and green colors. "Blue is Hikaru and Rei. Haruhi and Tamaki are red, and Kaoru and I are green. The blue team will search the outside and the first floor. The red team will be searching the entertainment floors from levels 2-4. Kaoru and I will be searching the guest level floors from levels 5-8.

"If you see the girl we are supposed to chase, follow her immediately and have one person on your team use this device to let everyone else know. Only use this when you have no time to use the walkie-talkies, which I will also distribute." She passed out the walkie-talkies and a small circular device with a single button in the center and one button at the side. "One push signals that you found her, but lost her. Two pushes mean you're following her. Three pushes mean that you've caught her. One push in the center button means an emergency, and it also is wired to send a GPS alert to your phone, which pinpoints your location for the others to know."

"But there's only one for each team?" Rei asked. "What if we get separated?"

Aria pursed her lips. "That's why you have to stick together."

"Oh. I get it now."

Continuing, Aria clasped her hands once more. "Rose has told me that Benio has extracted a promise from the resort owner that we are allowed to go into staff-only areas, but not the guest rooms _except_ the one that is reserved for us." She turned to Rose, who was sitting quietly in the corner. "Isn't that right?"

Rose nodded demurely. "You guys aren't going to win, though," she stated boldly.

"Why is that?" Kaoru asked, propping his feet up on the seat across from his.

"Well…Benibara-sama surpasses all."

Everyone rolled their eyes, and the tension in the car dissipated like a popped balloon. "That's a load of poop. Benio's good, but she's not _that_ good." Rei folded her arms. "You've got to snap out of this, Rose. I know you're not that stupid."

Rose stared at me. "…What do you mean?"

Rei continued, aware of everyone's eyes on her. "You're not lesbian, and you're not interested in what the Zuka club does. You don't like to sing or dance, and you don't idolize Benio like the others, either." Leaning my elbows onto my knees, Rei returned Rose's incredulous stare confidently. "I know I'm probably the last person you want to hear this from, since we have an ongoing rivalry and all that, but I think you're worth more than this."

Throwing my hands up into the air indignantly, she ranted, "I mean, _look_ at them! They dress up in flamboyant colors and hot glue feathers onto their equally ugly costumes, and they parade around and pretend to be royalty. I know that you're lonely, Rose, and that you want friends, but I think you can do better than that, really."

Rose was quiet. "Then what do you think I should do?"

To say the least, Rei was surprised. Rose was never calm or rational or _quiet_, like the way she was now. She practically _hated_ Rei, but she was willing to take her suggestions. "Well…I'm probably going to regret it, but…I…I never hated you." Rei shrugged when she stared at her in disbelief. "Hey, it was all you. I was just going with the flow, and to be perfectly honest, I kind of liked competing with you."

"…You did?" Rose whispered.

"Yup. And, I guess since this is really overdue, I'm sorry. It was my fault for tripping and dumping that bowl of ramen over you in front of the whole student body, when you wanted to fit in so much." Swallowing her pride, Rei extended her hand. "I didn't want to apologize at first because I was too prideful. I hated apologizing, and I still hate apologizing. But I have to admit that I was in the wrong this time."

Gulping, Rose just _gawked_ for a while, but she finally sighed, and took Rei's hand. "You know what, Yanase?"

"Yeah?"

"I've had enough of Benio. To be honest, it makes me barf a little in my mouth whenever I try to adore her like the others." Rose looked embarrassed, shy, and nothing like the angry, obnoxious girl she was before.

_I've misunderstood her,_ Rei thought in her head. _We all did._

Rose offered everyone a smile. "I'm sorry, you all. You're all such nice people, and I—I was the one who poisoned everyone. I want to make it up to you." She swallowed. "I'll help you guys out."

Knowingly, Aria smiled. "Thank you, Rose."

"I know who they're going to send." Rose pulled out her phone and, after tapping on it for a minute, showed us a picture. "Sakata Nina. I'm sure you know her, Rei."

Rei almost dove forward. "Nina! She was the vice-captain of the gymnastics team back at St. Lobelia." She bit her lip. "…and I think she has a grudge against me because I was made captain instead of her."

"_Again_?" Hikaru groaned, burying his face in his hands. "How many enemies do you have?"

"Too many to count," Aria mumbled.

"Okay guys, enough about my personal life!" Rei yelled in despair.

"Okay, then, what do you know about this…Nina girl?" Tamaki asked helpfully.

"Uh…" Rei scratched her head. "Um…she's good at gymnastics."

"And?" Haruhi prompted.

"…she's good at gymnastics…"

"Anything else?"

"…she's good at gym—"

Hikaru interrupted her brashly. "So we've established the fact that she's good at gymnastics and Rei knows nothing about her. Anything else?"

Rei raised her hand. "I have a bad feeling that we're going to lose."

* * *

><p><strong>AT THE RESORT<strong>

(Rei's POV)

It was awful.

The moment we got to the resort, we all split up, since we didn't need to waste time by going to the suite anymore.

And _every single girl had a silver bracelet on_.

"How do you know if it's a Tiffany branded bracelet or not?" I yelled to Hikaru over the noise. "Ow!" I almost lost sight of him when I was bumped by a tall girl in high heels.

"Whoa!" Diving back to get me, Hikaru caught my hand before I could fall. "Gosh, Oreo really had to stick me with the difficult one, didn't she?" he teased. "And you can only tell if you look at the label."

"Darn." I snapped my fingers. "I guess we should just look for Nina then, huh?"

"Yup." His fingers tightened over mine as he pulled me through the crowd. "Don't let go of my hand."

We rounded the resort for thirty minutes before my cell phone rang. As I picked it up, Hikaru ushered me over to a quieter corner so that we could both hear properly. "Aria?"

"_Yeah, Kaoru and I decided to check out the suite. It's number 888, and we left it unlocked. You can get duplicates at the front desk."_ She paused. _"We only have another hour and a half."_

"What? Crap! Gotta go!" I hung up, turning to Hikaru in despair. "We only have an hour and a half left!"

"Damn! Come on!" He grabbed ahold of my hand again. "Let's go search the inside!"

Again, like the outside, the lobby was filled with people. I squinted as I tried to scan through all the people, trying to find the familiar, tiny girl with a cropped cut of black hair and gray eyes.

Then, I thought I saw something.

Letting go of Hikaru's hand to try and get a closer look, my eyes widened when I saw her. "NINA!" I yelled, running after her.

It wasn't so good of a choice.

She heard my voice and instantly took off. I chased after her, up a flight of stairs, through a busy staff kitchen, and turned a corner when—

A hand clamped over my mouth.

Then I realized that I was in the worst situation possible:

One, I had forgotten about Hikaru.

Two, I was caught by Nina, who had a knife to my neck.

* * *

><p>(Hikaru's POV)<p>

Shit.

Habanero.

That _idiot_.

Right when I wasn't paying attention, she let go of my hand and ran off somewhere. I could only guess that she found Nina (good) but ended up getting separated from me (bad).

I didn't know I could feel so _pissed_ _off_ and yet so worried at the same time.

Fumbling in my nervousness, I pressed the button on the walkie-talkie that allowed me to speak with the others. "This is Hikaru. Rei got separated from me. I think she found Nina."

"_What?"_ Kaoru barked. _"Does she have the emergency circle thing on her?"_

I gritted my teeth as I found the device hidden safely in my pocket. "No, I have it."

"_Okay, calm down, Hikaru. She's fine, it's not like someone's going to whip out a machete and slit her throat or something."_ The thought made my insides knot up even more. _"Let me call her, okay? Be right back."_

I waited with bated breath as I started to look for the ways she may have gone. _"Hikaru?"_

"Yeah?" I stared at the walkie-talkie in worry, hoping for the best.

"…_She's not answering."_

"No."

"_Aria says that she might be in trouble."_

* * *

><p><strong>Soo...Dramatic? Yes, yes, very dramatic. Cheesy, yes, yes, very cheesy (why am I degrading myself?).<strong>

**If you read this, REVIEW! Depending on the number of reviews I get, I may release the next chapter early? (wink wink)**


	13. Chapter 12

**Hello my lovely readers! Sorry for the late update-if you read my profile page, you know that I got injured. Plus summer school started so I got kinda busy. I'M SORRY! :( Well, this marks the end of the "Zuka Arc". Sorry if it's kind of predictable/cheesy/cliched/etc. Blame it on my writer's block.**

**Thank you again for reading, and please review if you'd like. Reviews are what spur me on to write/finish the series! :) You all are the best.**

**Enjoy!**

**Edit**: I decided to change the ending of this chapter to something different, since after thinking about it, I think it was kinda OOC and it moved forward way too fast. So there you go.

* * *

><p>Chapter 12<p>

(Rei's POV)

I wasn't sure how it happened. Maybe it was pressure. Maybe it was stress. Or maybe it was just the shock of the moment, that all my gymnastic skills and athletic ability went down the toilet from that second on.

One thing for sure, though, I wasn't scared. Even though Sakata Nina had what looked like a shiny, sharp kunai to my throat, I was confident that she wouldn't kill me.

Hurting, however, was a completely different story, and for that, I was nervous. Not scared of course, but nervous. Yes. I was merely _nervous_. I was perspiring because of _nerves_ only.

So as Nina dragged me to a suite on the top floor, I pondered my options in an attempt to become calm and rational. After all, Aria could be calm in _any_ situation. And we were identical twins, too, so how hard could it be?

**1 Minute Later**

Okay. I take it back. Trying to think in a logical manner when you're mentally instable is close to impossible.

My throat was completely dry, and my hands were shaking as I entered the suite, Nina slightly poking the knife point into my back. I didn't try to mask my fear as Benio came into view, her confidence obviously peeking through her gaudy clothing.

"W-Why do you want me?" I rasped, grasping at the remaining courage I had left.

She folded her arms and leisurely took a sip of tea as she reclined on a floral chaise lounge nearby the balcony. "_Think_ about it, Yanase. You've humiliated me and degraded the Zuka Club in front of, not only the whole school, but several vital sponsors. Don't think that your actions don't come with repercussions."

"So getting expelled wasn't enough?" I glanced at Nina, who had finished tying my hands behind my back and tucked the dagger back into her little sack of weapons. "And what have I done to offend _you_ to make you almost stab me in the throat?"

Nina shrugged. "I'm not accustomed to losing, you know. When you were made the captain of the gymnastics team instead of me, I swore to get revenge. You shamed me in front of my whole family." Apparently my old classmate had a severe superiority complex.

Upset that the spotlight was getting jerked away from her, Benio cut in quickly. "This was the perfect chance. Haruhi is indeed a valuable flower, but making _you_ grovel at our feet seemed to be more profitable. Besides," she said, flashing a significant look at Nina, "Nina is not someone who will let anything be stolen away from her easily, so in a sense, it's like killing two birds with one stone."

Smugly, Nina jingled the Tiffany charm bracelet around her wrist.

With a relaxed air, Benio stood to leave the room, but I stopped her. "Wait! What do you want me to do?"

"What?"

"Well, you abducted me to make me do something for you, right? Like, I don't know, apologizing or something?" I suggested carefully.

"Yes, that's right. I want you to apologize for your misdeeds, and praise the Zuka club and myself in all our glory. On videotape."

The wheels in my mind started creaking as I thought of a brilliant idea. Apologizing to Benio and praising her was definitely one of the last things on my list that I wanted to do, but maybe it would be worth a sacrifice. "Then will you call this whole thing off? Will you agree to stop chasing Haruhi?"

Benio looked surprised at my suggestion, like she hadn't even considered the option. "Of course not. We're taking her."

"Then you can say bye-bye to me saying sorry." Admittedly, I was feeling braver with the kunai in Nina's bag and not at my throat.

Benio scoffed. "Into the closet with you. Nina?"

"Yes, Benibara-sama." Dragging me by the knots binding my wrists together, she thrust me out of the room, through a hallway, and into a tiny hall closet.

Crap. "…Nina, you wouldn't consider opening the closet door a tiny bit, would you?"

"Why?" She sneered. "Afraid of the dark?"

I bristled. "Of course not! I'm just afraid I'm going to run out of oxygen!" Actually, I was terrified of the dark. I slept with the light on at home, and I was always armed with flashlights whenever I went outside at night.

To my surprise, she sat down next to the door and opened it a wee bit, allowing some light to seep through. "I'll just guard you here, then." The short moment of her being nice dissipated immediately, however, when she added, "If people come you're in the dark. Alone."

We sat in silence, me scrunched up inside the closet against a bunch of wooden hangers, and her on the plushy carpet outside.

"…I'm sorry." Nina glanced at me in surprise as I muttered the words reluctantly.

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm sorry."

"…I fail to understand _why_."

"I didn't know that you wanted the captain position so bad, and I didn't really know that your family was so…strict, I guess. It wasn't on purpose."

I couldn't see what emotion she was displaying on her head as she quietly chewed over my words. "…Don't think a simple apology just smooths things over, Yanase. It's not that easy."

I propped my feet up on the walls of the closet in a futile attempt to get comfortable. "I know. But it's nice to hear, anyway, right?" As an afterthought, I added, "I still don't really want to apologize to Benio, though. She kind of deserved all those pranks, what with all the flamboyant, gaudy airs she put on and stuff."

I heard Nina expel a short puff of air, as if she was laughing. "…Thanks." Standing, I saw her brush off her black uniform. "Well, I suppose I should be off. Gotta prepare the welcoming ceremony and all."

"For who?" I scrunched up my nose, bewildered. "Hey, what are you—"

Nina took out a small roll of duct tape and proceeded to tape my mouth shut. She slammed the closet shut without a mite of compassion for my cause. "Your boyfriend, of course. Don't think we didn't do research on you guys." Then she walked off, just like that.

…_Boyfriend?_

* * *

><p>(Hikaru's POV)<p>

Today I learned that, if Rei is involved, I become a nervous walking wreck. I could barely tell left from right and I smacked into walls more than once. Not only was I on edge, it seemed like even a potted plant could scare me.

My phone vibrated as I paced one of the guest floors worriedly, scaring me out of my wits. "H-Hello?" I said as I fumbled to get the phone open.

"_Hikaru? This is Aria."_ She didn't wait for a response before she plunged on. _"Kaoru and I are in the security room, and we checked the footage of the videos from the time Rei disappeared."_

"Yeah?" I swallowed hopefully, bouncing up and down uncharacteristically on the balls of my feet. "What'd you find?"

"_Nina took her, all right. They're actually in the suite that was reserved for us—Suite number 888. Haruhi has a duplicate key, so she's heading over there right now—_"

That's all I needed to know. "Thanks, Aria. I'll be there in about three minutes."

"_Wait, that's not—"_ I snapped the phone shut and hurriedly ran to the elevator, punching the 'up' button furiously.

Practically diving into the elevator as soon as it opened, I looked for the button that led to the eighth floor, only to find that you needed to insert the key card to get to the buttons. Cursing underneath my breath, I punched the 7th floor button instead. I would have to run up the stairwell afterwards.

When the elevator doors opened with an annoying 'ding', I sped out and through the emergency exit door, climbing up a flight of stairs and arriving at the long corridor of top-floor suites. Scanning the golden plates on each French double-door, I found number 888 and burst inside, scanning my surroundings.

Haruhi was already there. She seemed to be talking with Benio, who looked up when I arrived. Flashing an encouraging smile at me, Haruhi nodded at me as if to say that she was okay.

Benio, however, was not so welcoming. "Nina."

A short girl (but a little bit taller than Rei) dressed in black suddenly appeared at my side. "Yes, Benibara-sama?"

"Separate Haruhi and this…twit. We can't let them get it contact with each other." Benio smiled victoriously. "Besides, it's almost the end of the game."

Nina forcefully dragged me through a room and into a hallway that led into a small living area. "Where's Rei?" I demanded angrily, using the difference in height to try and intimidate the girl.

"Somewhere where you can't find her," was her curt response.

I clenched my fists angrily and banged on the nearby closet, which made a rattling sound. "What do you want with her? _Why_ do you want her?" Gritting my teeth, I stepped closer to the girl angrily. "If you hurt her in any way, I _swear_ I'll make your life living hell."

Nina's eyes narrowed. "You can't do anything to me, Hitachiin Hikaru. The Sakata family isn't something to underestimate." She scoffed. "Besides, I doubt that you could do it, anyway. You don't even have the guts to fess up to Rei."

Curling my lip in a wave of fury, I slammed my hand against the wall once more and yelled, "Shut the hell up! You don't know _anything_."

"What do you mean?" Nina folded her arms, unafraid. "We did research on you, you know. You're obviously in lo—"

I cut her off. "Look, just—I don't get it. Rei hasn't done anything to you, and if she has, it wasn't on purpose. So why do you have to—to do this?" My voice took on a pleading tone. "Haruhi, too. Shouldn't it be her choice on whether she wants to go or not? Why is your…your monkey boss just so _damn_ bent on stealing her from all of us?"

Nina raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're so worked up just because of Fujioka Haruhi? From what we observed, you seemed to be treating this whole fiasco as more of a game."

Flushing, I looked down at my sneakers, which were starting to become tattered from wear. "…Fine. Fine. You're right. You're absolutely right. I was treating this like a game at first, but when you brought Rei into it—it's a whole 'nother story." I took a deep breath. "You win. I love Rei, and I couldn't stand it if she was put into danger, or—or taken away from us—or me." I gulped as I clenched my fists on the hem of my shirt. "I think this whole thing is stupid. Benio is crazy."

We stood in a tense, angry silence until I heard something move from inside the closet. Was it a rat or something? Apprehensively, I backed away until I noticed Nina grinning.

"Oh yeah," she bantered as she leisurely sauntered over to the closet. "I forgot to tell you one thing…"

She opened the door, and with an 'oof', Rei tumbled out, her hands bound behind her back and her mouth sealed with neon hot pink duct tape.

"Rei was here all along."

My face felt like it was scorched, and I stared at Rei, openmouthed. She averted her eyes, embarrassed, a sure sign that she had heard me.

Shit.

She _heard_ me. _Confessing_ (indirectly) my feelings. For _her_.

Shit.

* * *

><p>(Aria's POV)<p>

We all rushed to Suite 888, Tamaki-sempai with nervous sweat practically drenching his impractical clothing (a white summer suit and a matching fedora), Kaoru just rushing, and me checking my watch every second.

We were running out of time, and we hadn't made any progress at all.

Not to mention Rei was somewhere in the suite, and from what we saw from the security footage, Nina had been holding some sort of knife to her neck.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" I asked Kaoru worriedly.

He flashed a warm smile at me and rubbed my shoulder, the touch making my insides warm up and shiver at the same time. "It'll be okay, Aria. The Zuka Club isn't famous for being serial killers."

Laughing half-heartedly, I remembered to breathe as we stopped at the right door. Confidently, Tamaki-sempai pushed the door open.

We were gifted with the scene of Benio sitting on a chaise lounge, balancing a bowl of maraschino cherries with one hand and waving at us airily with the other. Haruhi, Rei, Hikaru, and Nina were nowhere in sight, but Benio seemed to be relaxed, as usual.

Then suddenly, she stood. "Time is up. I win, and I will be taking both Haruhi and Rei as my prize." When she saw my expression of horror, she laughed. "Don't worry, Miss Aria, I'll return her as soon as I make her pay for what she's cost me."

My heart sank, and I heard an anguished cry of pain from Tamaki-sempai. Half-heartedly, Kaoru patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Tono, we'll get her back."

"Actually, there's no need." The adjacent door opened and Nina walked in, with Hikaru, Rei, and Haruhi in tow.

"Nina!" Benio exclaimed angrily. "What are you doing?"

"Releasing them. The guy is right," she said, gesturing to Hikaru. "This whole thing is stupid. Fujioka Haruhi should be the one deciding her future, and I got what I wanted from Rei, so I'm not holding her back anymore."

Haruhi held up her wrist, which had a shiny silver bracelet on it. She stepped towards Benio. "Benibara-san," she started, "I feel really flattered that you care for me in this way, but enough is enough. My place is with the Ouran High School Host Club, and besides, you shouldn't be dragging Rei in it, even if she _did_ go a little overboard with her tricks."

Rei raised a hand in apology. "I went over with my fun, Benio. My bad."

Haruhi unclasped the silver trinket from her slender wrist and plopped it into Benio's bowl of cherries. "Sorry. See you around."

Tamaki-sempai breathed a loud sigh of relief, and Kaoru and I mirrored his response. Benio looked like a gaping fish. Haruhi was quickly welcomed back into the blond "King's" arms, while Rei talked with Nina.

"You know, for a creepy ninja with a superiority complex, you're a pretty good gymnast," she said.

"You know, for a hyperactive girl with a toddler's attention span and a fear of the dark, you're not bad yourself."

"I _did_ beat you to the captain's position, after all."

"…Shut up." Nina sighed. "Rose is still in your car, isn't she? I'll have to go get her out and take her back with Benibara-sama."

"See you around?" Rei offered a small smile to her ex-vice-captain.

Nina turned. "Of course not. You're still my rival."

"What!"

"Just kidding." Nina stuck her tongue out and slammed the hotel door shut.

As we exited a minute later, I felt an arm snake around my waist. I looked up to find Kaoru smiling at me. "All's well that ends well, right?"

I flushed, but nodded bashfully. "Mm-hmm." We watched Tamaki-sempai kiss Haruhi whilst twirling her around in glee. "It's nice to see them happy, isn't it?" I thought aloud as we walked towards the elevator, looking at them slightly wistfully.

"You're kinda cute when you look like that, you know," Kaoru commented airily. "Want me to kiss you, too?"

Reddening instantly, I jumped away and smashed into the adjacent wall. I didn't care, however; it wouldn't have made me any more embarrassed than I already was. "T-That's okay. I didn't mean it that way, I—"

Kaoru laughed. "I was just joking around, Aria, don't be so uptight. Come here." He waved me over and enclosed my hand in his warm one casually. "By the by," he commented, "have you noticed how weird our siblings are acting with each other?"

I looked, and he was right. They were walking awkwardly in front of us, at least three feet apart and arms stuck to their sides, backs rigid. Oddly Rei wasn't trying to make any conversation and Hikaru wasn't bickering with her like always.

We looked at each other. "I have a distinct hunch that somehow he confessed to her," I whispered. I was bound to be up late tonight talking with Rei, smoothing matters out and unclouding her mind. Well, at least the Zuka matter was finished.

Kaoru's face darkened for a moment, and he smiled in a way that made me oddly nervous. "Oh, did he? Huh."

I wondered why he looked upset, when a thought occurred to me: perhaps he, like Hikaru, held affections for Rei as well. A sour feeling molded itself in the pit of my stomach, and I started to let go of my hand when he held my wrist firmly and squeezed.

"Hey, Aria."

"Er, y-yes?" I managed to shakily reply back, and decided to disguise my inner turmoil by drinking some water. I popped off the plastic cap and took a lengthy swig, only to gag. The water tasted disgusting.

"You know I like you, right?" Half the water in my mouth shot up my nose and the other half out my mouth. Continuing as if nothing had happened, Kaoru squeezed my perspiring hand in his cool one. "More than a friend, I mean."

I could feel my heart shooting up to my throat and my stomach going awry with butterflies. "Uh…er…I—I suppose so, now."

He threw me a curious, sideways glance. I could feel the laser beams coming out of his eyes. "What about you?"

I froze up, cold sweat practically pouring down my face like a waterfall.

I was frightened. I didn't think that Kaoru would take it so far as to—to (dare I say it?) _date_ each other. Should I accept and reveal my feelings of my own? What would happen if Mother and Father prepare a marriage candidate? Then Kaoru's feelings would be hurt, wouldn't they?

Perhaps I should just take his feelings and accept them as a fond memory, and nothing more. I shouldn't let this transgress into something greater than friendship.

"…I'm sorry, Kaoru," I finally mumbled. "You are a wonderful and dear friend to me, but I have to think about taking it a step further first."

Breaking away from him, I strode several steps forward quickly, linked arms with my sister, and practically dashed towards the exit.

Looks like I had problems of my own to deal with after all.

* * *

><p><strong>So how did you guys like it? Some HikaruxRei development, some KaoruxAria development (?) BEFORE ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING:<strong>

**1) A small fishbowl integrated into the next chapter talking more in depth about Aria and Kaoru's relationship will come up.**

**2) The next "arc", I suppose, is the final one whose end will mark the end of this story. It will be centered mostly on Aria and Kaoru, and though some of you may find it overused, I think it's rather fitting for the two. Here's a hint: go back to Aria's fishbowl chapter. The worst possible scenario is what will happen in the next arc. Props to those who guess correctly! (THERE'S ALSO A HINT IN THE END OF THE CHAPTER!) **

**FINALLY: thank you thank you THANK YOU _radioactivepenguin13, XxNiji-The-Pedo-BearxX, Shan-Shan XP, SandShinobi21, and DiamondRainbows_ for reviewing. Hopefully nobody turned into a Mary-Sue this chapter, and hopefully the chapter wasn't super confusing. :)**

**R&R!**

**EDIT**: So hopefully this was better than the previous version of the chapter. If you read the old version, please review again and let me know what you think! :) Drama-rama or fluff? HAVE A GREAT DAY!


	14. Chapter 12 point 5

**I had a sudden urge to write the fishbowl ahead of time, so I decided to change my plans and just release the fishbowl as a separate mini-chapter.**

**Hopefully Kaoru isn't too OOC, and that I summed it up okay. I wanted it to somehow retrace back to the first line of the chapter, but I'm not sure if I did it right (or if it totally sucked).**

**If you'd like, please review! It gives me lots of encouragement and the will to go on. :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>[Fishbowl #2] Kaoru<p>

I don't like to lose.

Not even to my brother.

I thought it would be easy when we were both in love with a set of twins rather than one girl, but it _wasn't_. I found myself wanting to compete with Hikaru more and more (though he was still blissfully ignorant).

When Aria mentioned that Hikaru may have (albeit accidentally) confessed to Rei, I found myself a little envious. Hikaru and Rei were supposed to be the awkwardly dense duo who took forever to realize their feelings and get together, and Aria and I were supposed to be the ones well on their way to the proverbial "stairway to heaven".

So obviously, being the competitive hormonal male/modern Adonis I am, I had to make _some_ sort of move. I was well aware of the shy, bashful glances Aria always gave me and our borderline-flirtatious banters, as well as the slightly calculated brushes of our hands or touches.

And anyways, I was quite confident that I would succeed in just a spur-of-the-moment confession, which would smoothly result in a "dating relationship" with Aria, which would allow me to lord it over and gloat in Hikaru's face.

…It sounds bad when I say it out loud like that.

OK, fine. I wasn't going to brag (that much). I was just…it seemed like my relationship with Aria was just like that time the host club went to Kyoya-sempai's indoor pool resort, and Hani-sempai and Mori-sempai were swimming against the currents. No matter how much we (or maybe it was just me) tried to move forward, we never gained any distance.

I didn't understand why Aria was hesitant to make a move and, you know, up our relationship one level. Maybe she was scared, but if she already knew that I liked her, what was there to be scared about? Definitely not rejection.

When she just froze up at the hotel and ditched me with her sister, I felt my heart shrivel up and plummet to my stomach. It was like some kind of foreboding premonition.

I had a horrible thought that maybe something even bigger than fear was holding her back, a hurdle that neither of us could climb over.

Maybe I was going to lose her.

And I _hate_ losing the most.

* * *

><p><strong>Sooo...drama-rama much? I think I've kinda transgressed (I found that I'm using that word a lot-transgress) from focusing on comedy to more of a serious kind of drama thing. Probably because I just discovered my Death Note addiction (I'm on Team L AND Team Light!) ^_^<strong>

**SO because of this, I changed the genre to just "Romance/General", since I didn't think it was super funny. -_- I'll try to add some more comedy in though!**

**R&R!**


	15. Chapter 13

**HI guys. You're either going to hate me or love me for this. You'll see what I'm talking about once you read this chapter.**

**Aaaaaaaaand so that I have a sort of excuse, LISTEN TO THIS SONG. I wrote this chapter listening to it, which is why I think it turned out this way. It's called 'Ice Cream' by Joo and Leeteuk. Search up the MV with english sub on YouTube-it'll make more sense that way, plus I think this is the perfect song for Hikaru and Rei.**

**Enjoy! (Don't kill me!)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13 (Or if I get this wrong, whatever chapter number it's supposed to be)<p>

(No one's POV in particular)

**Sign into your Google Account!**

* * *

><p><strong>Username<strong>: ariayanase

**Password**: xxxxxxxxxx

* * *

><p><em>Welcome, Aria Yanase! You have <em>452 _unread messages._

* * *

><p><strong>From<strong>: Mother .net

**To**: Me

**(Priority) Subject**: Meeting, K Hotel 1:45 Sat

**Body**: Aria, your father and I have discussed the prospects of your future and what steps to take to prepare you as both companies will go to you. We have come to the conclusion that having an omiai would be the best choice for you. The profile information is attached. He is a very nice boy, the son of the CEO of Yamazaki & Co., which as you should know is one of the most high-earning companies in the entire world. The meeting will commence at 1:45 and end at 3:00 pm this Saturday at the K Hotel. Dress in a kimono. They are a very proper, traditional family and make sure to be polite and reserved with the boy when you are to take a short walk with him. Do not embarrass our family, Aria. Your success is vital.

Regards,

Reiko Yanase

**CEO, COB**

_Apple Athletic Clothing, Co._

* * *

><p><strong>Download File:<strong>

**Name: **_Yamazaki Yukihara_

**Age**: _17_

**Parents:** _Yamazaki Sennosuke (father), Yamazaki Nozomi (mother)_

**Hobbies**: _None in particular_

**Likes:** _None in particular_

**Dislikes**: _None in particular_

* * *

><p><strong>Chat: (1 New Message)<strong>

**Father**: Hi!

**Me**: Hello. How is Los Angeles? Is your work going well?

**Father:** It's unbearably hot. Work's ok, nothing special. How's school? Did you make any new friends?

Rei is telling me about a host club? And a pair of twins, just like you two.

**Me**: I wouldn't say "just like us", but I suppose we're similar in some aspects.

When are you coming home?

**Father**: …TT_TT I'm sorry, I know I was supposed to come this Saturday to make it for your omiai

Oops

Scratch that

I meant

Uh

**Me**: It's all right, I got Mother's email already.

**Father:** WHAT? She TOLD you? Argh, that woman—I TOLD her specifically not to

Agh, whatever. The point is that something came up and I'll be back in another week or so

:'( Sorry, Ari.

**Me**: Will Mother be at the meeting?

**Father**: …Um…

**Me**: I see. That's all right. I'll go by myself.

**Father**: NONSENSE! Aunt Mitsuba will be there with you in place of us. Remember that nice lady? She's actually a mutual friend, so

**Me**: Okay, that's fine.

Don't tell Rei, okay?

**Father**: …You know I hate it when you go all independent, Wonder Woman on me. Tight-fitting, loud bodysuits are always a fashion don't.

…Rei's not going to like it either.

**Me:** She'll get over it. Just promise me, okay?

**Father**: Fine. Albeit reluctantly.

**Me:** Thanks Daddy. I have to go now, Rei looks like her soul came out of her body.

She's been staring at the ceiling fan for about twenty minutes.

**Father:** Love problems? AHAHA LOLZ LMFAO

**Me:** How'd you guess?

Your use of teenage colloquialism is pathetic, btw.

**Father:** WHAT! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING YOU KNOW WHAT I AM BOOKING THE NEXT FLIGHT BACK HOME AND

**Me**: Don't be ridiculous, Dad. Go back to your work. I love you.

**Father**: ARJLKGSLKJI#&*$*SDF I WILL KILL WHOEVER

_(You have signed off._)

* * *

><p>(Aria's POV)<p>

"Hey, Aria…"

Hearing Rei's voice, I jolted in my seat and promptly slammed my laptop shut, sliding it under my stack of pillows furtively. It was 2 AM in the morning (we had gotten back from the resort), which wasn't a completely ridiculous time to be up, considering that I was supposed to be doing some work for the company and that Rei was just a night owl in general.

"Yes?"

"My head hurts."

I fought back the urge to laugh as I slid further underneath the white comforter of my bed. "Want an Aspirin?"

"Nah. I think I've been thinking too much. Maybe I should get a cup of coffee. Then again, I hate coffee, so maybe not. Did you know that apparently-" This was one of Rei's worst problems: never getting to the point. She was always the type to wander around the situation for a couple hours before actually stating what she wanted to say.

Annoyed, I interrupted her bluntly. "Get to the point, Rei. I'm tired, and-"

To my immense surprise, she told me outright. "I think Hikaru likes me." She paused for a moment, probably recalling a memory. "If I wasn't completely crazy and being a total birdbrain at the moment, I'd think that he _loves_ me." She laughed, a breathy giggle just short of what we called a "hysterical loony burger". "Crazy, right?" Legs folded up to her chest, she agitatedly played with the band of her sweats.

"Not completely." Sliding out of my bed, I went the few steps over to hers and sat down cross-legged onto her black blankets. "I think everybody except for you knew that he harbored feelings for you."

Her fingers frozen around the hem of her gray sweatpants, she stared at me in disbelief. "You're kidding."

"Don't be ridiculous. Why would I?"

"To utterly torment me and make my life even more miserable than it is right now."

I rolled my eyes. "Let's tackle this situation in steps, shall we? Firstly, we acknowledge the fact that he is wholly, undoubtedly in love—er, _like_, with you."

"Check."

"Next, are you going to accept his feelings or reject them? We won't discuss reciprocating his feelings yet so that we can simplify the situation somewhat."

Her ears flushing a deep red, Rei buried her face in her legs bashfully. Prodding her with my leg, I asked, "Think about it this way: do you like him as a mere classmate, or is it more than that?"

"More." Her response was instantaneous.

"Do you like him as a mere friend or prankster cohort, maybe, or is it more than that?"

Now she was hesitant. "…I can't tell."

I sighed, trying to think of some kind of solution and subsequently failing due to my lack in the romantic area. Furthermore I felt a growing ache in my stomach as I was reminded of my own troubles, what with Kaoru and my stupid indecisiveness and now…

Oh yes.

The omiai.

With an arranged marriage that was bound to go on, there was no way I could keep a regular boyfriend at the same time. In fact, it was a downright laughable situation. Boyfriend? _Ha_!

Which meant…

I had to give him up.

_So soon._

_No Aria,_ I reprimanded myself, _this is what you promised. You promised that when the day comes, you will obediently lock away your feelings for him. That's right. Feelings are only temporary, anyway. Think of Kaoru as just a flirty, middle-school crush. Yamazaki Yukihara seemed to be a good person—you can bestow your affections on him instead. Face it._

Inside I knew that Kaoru would never be a "flirty, middle school fling". He was probably my first love. My first _serious_ love.

Hardy har har. I almost snorted at my own telepathic monologue. This would be a perfect Taylor Swift song.

"Aria? Are you okay?" Rei's worried voice jolted me out of my reverie. "You're making a really scary face right now. Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine." Abruptly, I hopped off her bed and headed for the door. "I…I need to go settle something." With myself. "Why don't you go call Haruhi or something? She has a boyfriend—she'll be able to help you." Unlike me, who will skip the whole dating process entirely and practically jump into a white dress.

Dammit.

* * *

><p>(Rei's POV)<p>

There was something fishy going on. Even with a brain whose intelligence and average coherence was the equivalent of a mushy, half-dead fly (I did NOT need that image in my head—BLEGH), I could tell that something was up with Aria.

Something was MAJORLY wrong.

Not only was that weird face-contortion out of character, but after I crept out of the room and followed her stealthily to the bathroom, I could just _barely_ hear (after pressing an empty paper towel tube to the door) sniffling and a weird rendition of what seemed to be Taylor Swift's "Speak Now".

That only did two things to me: conclude that Aria was officially a hysterical loony burger and crave for a pastry. (A/N: In the lyrics, there is talk of a bridal gown shaped like a pastry. ^_^ That totally just happened to me just now.)

Returning to my room in a confused, befuddled haze, I plopped onto Aria's bed only to hit myself on something hard. "OW!"

Whipping around to glare at my newly-sworn enemy, I found myself staring daggers at Aria's lime-green laptop.

Huh.

Why was it under her pillow?

Unless…

Digging it out like I was a pirate finding a legendary treasure trove, I mentally pumped a fist in the air. "Ah-HA! _This_ is certainly suspicious." Feeling like a female version of Sherlock Holmes, I flipped the cover up to find it open to the Gmail page.

Wiggling my fingers, I typed in what I knew to be her username only to be stuck on the password portion.

"Erm…" I was definitely not cut out for the cool spy job. Finally, I resorted to my last (and only) resort:

"…Hello? Kyoya-sempai?"

I could almost feel the heat of his glare through the phone. _"…You do realize that it is currently 2:45 AM in the morning and that I am in the middle of something important, don't you?"_

I paled. "You're…not doing anything risqué, are you?"

He scoffed. _"You're being an idiot. No, Miss Overthinker, I am in the middle of revising an important business proposal."_

"Overachiever," I threw back before getting back to my main objective. "Hey, you don't happen to have Aria's Gmail password, do you? Or _know_ how to get it, at least?"

A pause. A very _calculated_ pause. _"…Perhaps."_ Another drawn out pause. _"What's in it for me?"_

"Do you have a girl you like? I'll set up a blind date for you with her."

"_Don't be ridiculous. There is no such person, and I have no need for something so useless—"_

"Ooh, defensive, are we?" I laughed. "OK, then…I'll set up a deal with your family's company and my mom's company. You guys run a hospital, right? So I'll set up something where we sponsor a therapeutic event of yours and we'll give away clothes or something. I'll make sure to emphasize the fact that since I am pseudo-friends with _you_, the whole shebang and honor will be pretty much in your name."

He seemed skeptical. _"I completely doubt that you are able to accomplish such a feat, especially from one such as your mother."_ Ah, so he knew The Momster, huh?

"I'll make it happen." You had to proceed in these kind of situations at a very _delicate_ pace—in other words, first convince Dad to convince Mom, convince Aria to convince Mom (as a backup plan in case that fails), and if all else fails, convince Mom myself and then bribe both parents with a large gallon of cookie dough ice cream (Dad) and a box of sea salt dark chocolate caramels (Mom).

"…_Fine. I'll send the password to your phone in a minute."_ He hung up before I could ask _how_ exactly he had gotten my phone number at all.

A minute later, I was in the inbox and scanning the messages of interest until I saw one from Mom: subject titled '**Meeting, K Hotel 1:45 Sat**'. What struck me as odd was that the meeting was at a _hotel_ instead of the main company, especially since I hadn't heard of any business conferences that would require booking a hotel conference room.

So I clicked on it.

And my jaw almost dropped to the floor.

My first thought was 'Geez, how outdated can Mom get?'

And then it sunk in.

My _sister_ was going to have an _omiai_. As in, an _arranged marriage_. In _two days._

Hearing said sister's footsteps outside the door, I quickly forward the email to myself, logged out, and practically shoved the computer into her pillowcase after executing a death-leap onto my own bed.

Struggling to appear natural as she entered, I busied myself with fiddling with my phone. Sending a quick text to Haruhi ('Hey u there? Major problem need help!') and Kaoru ('Serious stuff going on need to talk!'), I glanced at Aria, who seemed oddly calm. _Too_ calm.

She slipped into bed and settled her head on the pillow, muttering a dark curse as her head hit the computer, and after flinging it carelessly onto a nearby chair, turned off the bedside lamp and proceeded to go to sleep.

She _did_, however, flip over to ask, "Are you calmer now?"

Oh yeah. There was that lovely situation of me being in total Awkward Land with Hikaru. And her weird situation made everything even worse. "Yeah. Calm." Ha-ha. Like you're fooling anyone, Rei.

Shrugging it off, she turned so that her back was facing me and yawned. "You should go to sleep, Rei. Big day tomorrow."

Great. That meant that I had to see Hikaru tomorrow. _And_, in _two_ days, my sister was pretty much going to walk down the aisle.

Shucks.

I _had_ to do something. And _fast_.

…But first, I had to make up with Hikaru. There was no way I could live with this stifling awkwardness.

Turning off my own lamp and huddling into the bedcovers, I started to hatch my plan of attack…

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Day<strong>

Plan: success?

The reason why I said this was because I sent Hikaru a text to meet up after school, but he never replied. And I'm guessing that the reason why he never replied was because I avoided him all day.

OK, so I was being a chicken. I know it. But what was I _supposed_ to do, run up to him like nothing had happened? I was dense, but I wasn't that bad.

As I waited outside the school gates (Aria probably went home by now), my phone jingled: "I'M A BARBIE GIRL, IN A BARBIE WORLD—"

Embarrassed, I clicked on the incoming message:

**From: Hikaru**

**Meet you in the café. Kaoru's coming too.**

I felt relieved that he'd finally replied, but backtracked when I saw his second sentence.

Oh, great. How was I supposed to have a private, embarrassing discussion with KAORU there? It was like he was a giant fly on the wall or something—ugh. I would have to lock him in the bathroom or something.

Assuming that Hikaru meant the school café, I trekked for fifteen minutes, got lost, asked for directions, got lost again, and finally resorted to asking the nearby gardener to walk me over.

I really needed to get a GPS or something.

When I got to the café, I took a deep breath before plunging into the cozy urban room. My confidence dissolved quickly when I saw Hikaru (and Kaoru) waiting for me, both with forlorn faces.

Swerving away, I scooted up to the counter and pretended to study the menu for a long time.

_What do I do what do I do what do I DO?_

After being prompted by the annoyed student behind me, I ordered something at random: "Uh, one, er, small Icelandic coffee, please. And one strawberry cake."

"Room for cream and sugar?" the woman behind the counter asked helpfully.

"Yes, please. Charge it on my student card—it's Yanase Rei."

It was time to face the matter.

Clenching my fists, I robotically walked over to Kaoru and Hikaru's table. "Kaoru, go away," I rudely ordered.

"What? Why?" he demanded, starting to get pissed off as well.

"_Because_ this is a private matter between _Hikaru_ and _me_! I have something else to talk to you about too, but _after_ this!"

Sullenly, Kaoru skulked away, griping about PMS. _What's wrong with HIM_? I wondered.

Hikaru silently sipped his own cup of coffee. He didn't look up when I sat down. He just stared out the window.

Thanking the waitress when my coffee and my cake came, I took a sip of the drink and gagged. _Bitter_. I remembered why I didn't like coffee in the first place.

Somehow, the sour acidity at the back of my mouth dampened my mood even more.

I took a deep breath. "Hikaru, I'm sorry."

He surprised me by coldly replying, "So you're rejecting me too?"

_Too?_ "No, I'm not."

Hikaru looked up, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Really?"

"No, I'm not rejecting you, _but_…I need to ask you a favor."

"What is it?" His face was understanding and gentle, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The words were coming easier now. "You know me well enough to understand my personality, Hikaru—I'm not confessed to every day, and I don't know my heart as well as I should. On top of the fact that you're probably the best guy friend I've ever had, I…I don't think I should say anything before I make sure it's 100% true."

Looking down at my plate, I played with the chocolate drizzle on the cake. "I know it's not fair to you, but there's just been a lot of stuff happening, and it's really huge, and I'm really confused and I don't know—"

"It's okay."

I looked up, startled. "What?"

"I said, it's okay," Hikaru repeated. "You don't have to answer me just yet."

Feeling my heart speed up, I twiddled my thumbs, a flush blooming across my cheeks. "I don't want to get your hopes up, Hikaru, but…" My next words came out as a whisper. "I've been thinking about it all night…and I think that you're definitely more than 'just a friend' to me."

Hikaru was quiet. _Is he mad?_ When I looked up to peek at him, I found that Hikaru was smiling.

Not in a playful way, or in the way that made you know that something was afoot—it was one of pure _bliss_.

And I thought it was beautiful.

Stepping around the table, Hikaru took my hands in his, caressing them with his thumb gently. "Yesterday's confession didn't go as well as I'd planned, Rei—rather than a romantic dream, it was more of a rude awakening. So let me try and make it up to you." He took a deep breath. "Yanase Rei, I think that you're beautiful, inside and out, whether you're wearing sweatpants or an Oscar de la Renta ball gown. I love your laugh and your smile and the way you look straight at a person—unflinching and confident. That's why, Yanase Rei, I'm in love with you, whether you like it or not." He smiled at me in a way that made my ears heat up and my heart feel like it would burst out of my ribcage.

What _was_ this feeling? I had never felt this way before—

No.

No, I'd felt it before—so many times.

I'd just never paid attention to it.

But what _was_ it? Surely not a disease… "Hey, Hikaru," I whispered, ignoring the eyes of the onlookers before us. "What does love feel like?"

He reddened, but answered my question sincerely. "You feel faint and disconcerted. You think that the person before you is _so_ beautiful and is the perfect person for you. You don't care about her bad points, and you'd be perfectly content living with the person for the rest of your life. Your heart speeds up like it's on overdrive, and your whole body is hot and cold at the same time." I shivered involuntarily as he moved to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "That's what it feels like."

I stared down at my feet. "…I guess you won't have to wait any longer, then," I mumbled.

"Huh?"

Before he could say anything else, I straightened my back and loudly announced, "I think that you're brilliant. Your pranks, your witty comebacks, everything. I think that the way you drool while sleeping during class is cute, and I love bickering and goofing off with you. You make every day even more fun than it already was. It's embarrassing to say this, but since I've embarrassed myself to this point already, I'm going to say it as loud as I can: you, Hitachiin Hikaru, are the greatest guy in my life, and you are a very lucky man because Yanase Rei just made the largest epiphany in her life!"

I stopped, waiting for it to sink in on Hikaru's face. When it didn't, I decided to give it another push, not caring about how red my cheeks were or how dorky I looked, shouting my heart out in front of an audience of strangers (and Kaoru): "I LOVE YOU!"

Then I found myself buried in a warm bundle of arms, shirt, and most of all, Hikaru. I felt his lips on my head and breathed in his tangy smell happily.

"I'm such an idiot," I mumbled in Hikaru's shirt. When he released me to study my face, I explained, "I didn't notice that I liked you since the start."

"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked, surprised.

"Remember that first time we met?" He nodded. "I was looking for you."

"Huh?"

"I saw your picture through your mom, and I started getting interested. When I saw your back, I knew it was you, and, for some reason, I wanted to impress you—get your attention. So I pretended that I was jogging and flipped over your head."

Shocked but amused, Hikaru pinched my cheeks jokingly. "You shady girl. Told you I was too handsome for any girl to resist."

I rolled my eyes and was about to give him a snarky response, but was cut off when I felt Hikaru give me a quick peck on the lips. "You're lucky I'm willing to accept _all_ your faults, Habanero." His face turned serious. "Just don't cheat on me."

"You're being cheesy, Hikaru," I complained. "I swear I'm going to barf on you—you don't want a repeat of _that_ incident, right?" I nudged him, reminding him of the food poisoning fiasco.

"We were already being cheesy, so who cares?" After Hikaru kissed me on the cheek, I noticed that the crowd flocking around us applauded and cheered.

This was embarrassing.

"Happy ending, huh?" Kaoru smiled halfheartedly as he clapped as well, coming towards us. "I wish that was the same for me."

"Oh, yeah…" Hikaru's mouth flattened out into a straight line. "Sorry, Kaoru."

"What happened?" I asked, starting to figure it out. Aria must've…

"Aria rejected me." Bingo.

Grabbing both twins' hands, I started dragging them out the door, around the corner, and sat them both on two flat rocks by the pond. "There's bad news."

Kaoru folded his arms sadly. "I know."

"Wait, you know?" I wrinkled my brow, bewildered. "That Aria dumped you because she's getting married even though the one she likes is you?"

"…WHAT THE (BLEEP)!"

"Oh, I guess not. Bet you're glad that you were sitting down, right?"

"All of a sudden I feel like I'm in some kind of weird soap opera…"

"Ya think?"

* * *

><p><strong>THE END IS IN SIGHT! YAY!<strong>

**Oh man oh man oh man...I'm getting ready for all the hate reviews saying about how cheesy I am and how bad at writing romance/writing in general I am...**

**I never really said this to you guys, but I seriously get scared whenever I see a review in my inbox-I'm all like, "OMG IT'LL BE A HATE REVIEW, I'M SURE" **

**Well, they're finally together, which makes me happy, except of course Aria just has to ruin everything with her selflessness...JK. I love Aria, and what would a story be without some (major) bumps in the road?**

**REVIEW!**


	16. Chapter 14

**First off, I want to thank you all for the kind and encouraging reviews. You guys (DiamondRainbows, AnimeFanCrazy197, Animefreak Amii, Sophia Griffin, kiki, operator101, XxNiji-the-pedo-bearxX, Samrit, and Jay) are the best! ^_^ Don't worry, this story will end happily.**

**To kiki: Thank you for your honesty. When I first started writing/reading Ouran fanfics, I realized that, yes, there were many twinsxtwins scenarios, and yes, it's really quite overused. Though I am fond of OCs and OCxOC pairings, I felt after writing the first chapter that I, in a sense, was addicted to it. The "perfect" kind of situation where twins find their counterparts in another pair of twins. Again, thank you for your opinion. Everyone has a different perspective on things, and I fully respect that. :)**

**Thank you all. I expect to end things in 1-2 more chapters, and maybe stick some bonus epilogues/cut scenes afterwards? What do you guys think?**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 14<p>

(Hikaru's POV)

Um, _what the hell was going on right now_?

Just a minute ago I got myself a girlfriend and made myself most possibly the happiest man in the world, and then…

My girlfriend's (I _loved_ that word now) twin sister, who incidentally just dumped my twin brother thirty minutes ago, was actually going to get married to some guy even though she apparently did like my brother the way he liked her.

One word: ...huh?

Then: WTF?

Now, my girlfriend (^_^) was in the middle of getting the "incriminating evidence", as she put it, and Kaoru was in the middle of looking dazed and confused.

Rei pulled a disgusted look as she scrolled down the screen on her smartphone. "This guy is _bland_—I mean, I guess he's kind of hot, but look at _this_!" She showed the screen to me and Kaoru with an indignant frown. "Likes, dislikes, hobbies—_nothing in particular_," she said while mimicking a monotone, robotic voice. "I would like to meet this guy and smack some sense in him."

I studied the picture on the profile with raw envy. Rei thought that this _boy_ was _hot_? Sure, he had the kind of flippy, swishy hairstyle that this popular American pop star made famous (though I thought he just looked girly in general), and his raven hair contrasted with his blue eyes that gave off a distinctly Eurasian feel, but-!

Why the hell was I making this guy sound good in my head?

He was a boring, girly pig. I could one-up him any day.

"Hello? Kaoru? You okay there?" I pulled out of my thoughts to see Rei stooped in front of my brother, waving her hand in front of his face worriedly.

"Don't worry, Kaoru, I promise I'll stop the wedding! We'll take Aria back, I promise," she pleaded insistently.

"She already _dumped_ me," Kaoru mumbled, half out of it, "so what does it matter? She'll like this guy better than _me_, I'm sure, and it'll be better for the _company_ and everything."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Rei beat me to the punch.

Literally.

As Kaoru rubbed his bruising cheek in shock, Rei seethed as hot, angry tears threatened to spill over her eyes. "How can you _say_ that?" she demanded furiously. "Aria _loves_ you, I know it! She was so upset when she found out last night—even _I_ noticed! Besides, how could she like a bland weirdo better than _you_? You're like—like—" She struggled with the right words. "Like two of the same ends of a magnet!"

Kaoru buried his face in his hands as I groaned. "What? What's wrong?" Rei wrung her hands, the tears definitely spilling out now. "What did I say? I'm sorry, Kaoru, d-don't cry!" she wailed in what I noted was a most adorable way. (I couldn't help it. Sorry.)

"_You're_ the one crying, Habanero." I rubbed her back before leaning down to whisper, "The two ends of the same magnet _repel_, not attract, you dolt."

"Oops." Hurriedly, Rei rephrased her statement. "Er, what I meant to say was—you're bound by the, uh, _red string of fate_!" She ended triumphantly, wiping away her tears.

Kaoru sighed forlornly, not answering.

"We _will_ get her back. We'll make them cancel the engagement." Rei took a deep breath. "And I'll take care of the consequences. It wasn't fair for Aria to shoulder both companies to begin with, anyway, and it was time that I take responsibility as well."

Surprised, Kaoru looked up with a combination of hope and guilt in his gaze. "But…"

"No buts. Anyways, it's your choice on whether you want to win her back or not. One thing's for sure, though—I'm not letting my big sister get married at 16 with a stranger for a brother-in-law." Sniffing, Rei turned on her heel before peeking behind her shoulder. "You two _are_ coming, right?"

I smiled at Kaoru, who returned it with a slowly emerging grin of his own. "Yeah. Wouldn't miss out for the world."

* * *

><p>(3rd Person POV)<p>

"_Hello, Suou Tamaki speaking."_

"Tama-sempai, this is Rei. We've got a problem, and we need your help."

"_Whaaat? Well, if I can be of any help, particularly in the looks department—"_

"Actually, yes, that may be a valuable asset in this case."

"_REALLY? (Finally, I get screen time!)"_

"Yup. Get to the Hitachiin house pronto. The rest of the Host Club (sans Aria) will be there."

(_click)_

"…_Yanase Rei, what is it _now_?"_

"Hi, need another favor from you. I'll throw in a special deal with my dad's company with the favor I promised you before, okay? Just come to the Hitachiin house now, unless you want to be exiled from the host club forever. Bye."

_(click)_

"_Rei-chan, hi!"_

"Hi. Need your help. Bring Takashi-nii. Hitachiin house. Now."

_(click)_

"_Hello? Rei?"_

"Hi Haruhi, we've got a major problem regarding Aria and her upcoming forced marriage, we're planning to crash the omiai which is tomorrow so meet at the Hitachiin house. Actually, where are you?"

"_Um…my apartment…?"_

"OK, we'll come and pick you up. Get ready."

_(click)_

* * *

><p><strong>15 Minutes Later<strong>

"Oh, what a terribly tragic situation!" Tamaki put his hand to his forehead, the epitome of utter distress. "We must save the princess immediately!"

"Be quiet and pay attention to the plan, Idiot King," Hikaru snapped.

"This is getting ridiculous…" Haruhi muttered to herself. "What kind of soap opera is this?"

Rei coughed loudly. "OK, so the omiai is at 1:45 in the afternoon at K Hotel. Aria will be going by car to the hotel at 12:00 because she's never late, and she's getting ready then."

"So we're going to ambush her there?" Hani asked excitedly.

"Yup. Kyoya-sempai will be going over our current plan of action; Kyoya-sempai, the floor is yours." Bowing, Rei left the spot next to the large white board to go sit next to Hikaru. Haruhi noticed with a pleased sensation that he put his arm around her and slid her closer to him.

"All right." Kyoya started scribbling in his neat script onto the board. "I will reserve the room directly next to the room that Aria's omiai will be held in. We will arrive promptly at 11:45—Hikaru will head to the omiai room first and install the bugs and video cameras that I have prepared here." He gestured to the small stack on a nearby table. "Meanwhile, Tamaki will ambush the hairdressers, makeup artist, and stylist that have been confirmed to set up in Room 103, and distract them long enough so that we will be able to abduct Aria—this act will be taken care of by Hani-sempai and Mori-sempai. While this is happening, Haruhi will take Rei to Room 103 to pretend to be Aria, since Rei will need a chaperone of some sort, and Kaoru will be on standby outside the room.

Mori-sempai will knock Aria out in the most painless way possible and will transport Aria to the room we reserved. Kaoru and Haruhi will follow suit, leaving Rei alone. Rei will replace Aria in the omiai meeting and completely ruin the parents' expectations of her, leaving them to call off the engagement themselves." He gave Rei a pointed look. "I am sure that you are more than capable of accomplishing that feat."

Rei saluted him seriously. "Aye aye, sir."

"In the scenario where the opposing party are complete idiots and are charmed by Rei's gruesome personality—" (he was cut off by an indignant 'Hey!' from the disgruntled girl) "—Rei will wait until the time for her and the boy to be alone before proceeding to 1) disgust him 2) anger him 3) persuade him to call off the engagement, and 4) when all fails, call off the engagement yourself."

"So," Hikaru commented, a bit upset, "I basically have no part in this except being the tech geek."

"Well, I assumed that since you'll be too caught up in being jealous, your usefulness would burn out by the time the boy started flirting with your girlfriend," Kyoya explained matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yeah." _Damn,_ Hikaru thought to himself, _why am I always caught up in these kinds of situations?_

Rei put her hands on her hips, determined. "Don't worry, Kaoru, we're definitely going to get my sister back. And then after that, you guys can have a nice, long talk over a cup of hot chocolate."

"It's almost summertime, Rei."

"Frozen hot chocolate."

Though everyone laughed, they all had the same foreboding thought in their head:

What if they _did_ fail?

What if Aria didn't _want_ to come back?

* * *

><p><strong>How did you guys like it? I know it's short, but it's an early update and I'm planning on getting another chapter out sometime this week anyway.<strong>

**Did you guys catch the Bieber reference in the beginning? ;) haha DON'T KILL ME, BELIEBERS. I think that, despite his, um, feminine looks, he's a talented singer and would be a cool guy friend to have in real life. He's definitely not as gay as everyone makes him out to be. He's just unfortunately stuck in the awkward pubescent stage.**

**Speaking of frozen hot chocolate, anyone go to Serendipity's? Having some of that heaven sounds reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally good right now... (drool)**

**Reviews would be appreciated! (I'm hoping to drag out the series so that I can end at a solid 100 reviews, haha. I'm such a loser.) -_-**

**Also, if you guys have any suggestions on 1) what you want to happen in the last couple of chapters or 2) scenarios/prompts that you want to see in the bonus chapters, or ANYTHING ELSE (keep in mind I'm not taking requests for smut or anything mature...) please feel free to review or PM me. :) I love getting ideas from readers-makes the whole writing thing more fun and interactive.**

**Thanks guys!**


	17. Chapter 15

**Hey! Short intro:**

**Yes, I am also pissed off at Aria. I guess I kind of showed that in Kaoru's POV section. Thank you all for reviewing and reading the story, and please continue to support this series! :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 15<p>

(Aria's POV)

This was it.

Today was the big day.

Twisting my head around to glance at the digital analog clock on the kitchen counter, I bit off an unladylike hunk of bread and chewed it furiously, a habit I had when I got nervous.

11:30. Time to go.

Smoothing down the flowing floral dress I wore, I brushed my hands off on a napkin after finishing off the bread, hoping that it wouldn't be regurgitated due to excessive nerves. Luckily, Rei had left the house ten or twenty minutes before (I didn't count), saying something about a date, with Hitachiin Hikaru, no doubt.

Hitachiin.

I detested the sound of that name now. It was bad enough that the two brothers looked alike, and that ever since Rei came home with the "good news", she didn't stop jabbering to him (the "other" him) on the phone.

Emptying my head of any errant thoughts, I fluidly entered the backseat of the sleek Benz waiting outside the house. I didn't greet the driver as I usually did. I didn't answer his half-hearted attempts at conversation, though I did feel guilty for snubbing him so rudely.

I just couldn't bring myself to be cheerful. Not on a day like this.

I was practically jumping into the grave I dug myself now.

"Miss, we're here."

Coldly, I nodded in acknowledgment before striding as confidently as I could into the brightly-lit lobby. I wobbled slightly on the dark brown pumps that I had borrowed from Mother's closet.

Bad choice, considering that I didn't wear high heels too often and my mother was a heel-maniac, stocking her closet with sky-high Louboutins, Jimmy Choos, and the like.

Gritting my teeth, I steadied myself and half-stumbled my way into the elevator, where the elevator operator asked, "Which floor?"

I glanced at the memo on my phone. "I'm supposed to go to Room 103, so I suppose that would be the—"

The employee cheerily interrupted me. "Oh, that's actually going to be the fourth floor! Usa-chan and I were _reeeeally_ confused about it, but then Takashi figured it _all_ out!"

…Why was the tall, dark, and handsome elevator man talking in such a weird, childlike manner? Even worse, why did the tall, dark, and handsome look familiar and why was his voice starting to sound scarily nostalgic as well?

Then I realized that the voice wasn't coming from him—it was coming from _above_ him.

"Sorry, Aria-chan, this'll hurt a bit."

My mind registered the fact that a diminutive boy with the hair the color of honey and the tall, dark, and handsome "elevator operator" were jumping on me one second too late.

In the next second, I struggled to escape the elevator, but only succeeded in getting caught in Hani-sempai's signature choke hold, bumping my head on the already-closing door, and, in a flurry of arms and legs, slammed onto the marble floor.

After hearing a resounding crack sound through the moving elevator (_was it thunder?_), searing pain shot up my left leg.

I heard a pained yell, several hushed, worried voices, and then everything faded to black.

* * *

><p>(Rei's POV)<p>

They said that I looked like her.

My first reaction was "Um, hello? We _are_ identical twins, ya know…" but when I looked in the mirror, I couldn't agree with them at all.

Even Kaoru's magic touch (he'd outfitted me with what his custom "Aria Line" composed of pieces from his mother's own fashion line) didn't help to disguise the glaring differences I saw between us sisters.

For one, I was two shades darker than Aria's normal skin tone, which probably had a lot to do with my being outside ten times more than she usually did. My arms, legs, and stomach were also more toned and muscled, whereas hers was just bone and a little bit of fat.

Her hair had inherited our dad's slight wave whereas I had Mom's stick-straight hair, not to mention that I was also an inch shorter than her.

Physical appearances aside, she had this elegant, aristocratic kind of feeling that you got when you looked at her. Her eyes were sharper, colder, and more intelligent-looking than mine. Her lips, usually adorned with a nude gloss, were almost always pressed in a thin, straight line—especially when she was working.

Which was always.

Nonetheless, it seemed as if I had fooled the stylists. They fluttered around me like annoying, persistent bees, one almost yanking my hair out of their roots, the other readying what looked like an elaborate torture costume (a kimono), and the third rolling out a huge array of my worst enemy: makeup.

The makeup artist was a devil in disguise, I decided. She brushed powder and other liquidy things onto my face, making me sneeze and scrunch up my nose in protest. She took out a black, globby stick and almost poked it into my eyeballs (_not_ apologizing, I might add), and also painted my eyelids with an assorted variety of colors.

"We're going simple today," she told me in her whiney voice, "so that we can showcase that _beautiful_ kimono over there." Then she smothered a pinkish lipstick and gloss all over my mouth.

_Simple?_ Apparently I was more of a cave woman than I'd thought (I had never, ever worn makeup in my life—barring the one time Mom forced some stuff onto my face for a big party).

When the hair-yanking demon finished (I didn't get how it looked any different—it was just pulled back into a half-ponytail and waved), the clothing lady stuffed me into several stuffy (not to mention itchy) robes before securing everything with a tight obi. Then, she forced me to wear these weird white socks and loud, clattering wooden sandals.

If this was what people wore in the olden days, I held those Edo females in a new respect. They truly suffered in their torture devices.

Wobbly on my feet, I resorted to shuffling out of the room and into the elevator.

It's showtime.

* * *

><p>(Kaoru's POV)<p>

I waited in Room 104 as I peered at the screen showing the live feed that Hikaru installed in the meeting room, my foot tapping on the floor impatiently.

_Rei's not there yet. What if something happened? Why isn't Aria here yet? What if something happened to her?_

My foot tapped even harder.

Then I could hear the distinct wailing of…Hani-sempai?

Throwing the door open, I was almost bowled over by Mori-sempai, Hani-sempai (who was wailing), and Aria, whose leg was…bandaged.

She also had a huge bump on her forehead and was effectively knocked out (not to mention slung over Mori-sempai's shoulder like a bag of potatoes).

"Hey, what happened?" I demanded angrily.

"It was my fault, Kao-chan!" Hani-sempai wailed. "I scared her, and she accidentally slipped and _broke_ her ankle!"

"It was just a fracture," Mori-sempai amended. "I'll go get some ice." He set her down on one of the couches and left quickly.

Crouching next to Aria, I let my eyes wander to her face. She was so beautiful, even with a swelling lump on her head, smudged makeup, and hair in disarray.

I sighed with longing. Hikaru and Rei had dragged me here, but…I was still scared. I would do _anything_ for her to be happy. Should I just…back off?

And let her walk down the aisle with a different man?

…No. Heck no. I love her, but if you don't mind me saying this, I love myself too. I would want _me_ to be happy as well.

Right?

Ugh. This made no sense whatsoever.

Sighing, I brushed her bangs away from her forehead. "You drive me crazy, as usual, you stupid girl."

What would I say when she wakes up? Hi? Good morning? I don't want you to get married even though you flat-out rejected me? Marry me instead?

Yeah right. I didn't have the guts. Not after she rejected me like _that_:

"_Aria, I—"_

"_I can't date you. I'm sorry if I led you on this whole time, but I'm just not interested. Also, it would be better if you stopped associating with me from now on. Goodbye."_

Ouch.

Maybe Rei was wrong. After all, it took a long time to even _get_ the idea that Hikaru liked her in that impossibly thick head of hers. Maybe she misinterpreted Aria's "depressed, sorrowful attitude" when it was something else. Maybe she swallowed a whole bunch of bitter squashes or something, or maybe she drove over a bunny on the road and flattened it.

Maybe she would trample over my heart, _again_, just as she did to that poor bunny in Bunny Heaven.

(Why am I thinking about dead, smooshed bunnies now? IT MAY NOT HAVE EVEN HAPPENED, IDIOT.)

This sucked. Big time.

"Ugh…"

I froze when Aria's eyes fluttered open and start to focus. Suddenly, she sat up urgently. "The omiai—ow!"

I prevented her from getting up from the couch, avoiding her baffled gaze. "…Kaoru? What are you doing here?" She must've gotten it, because her voice turned cold and angry. "Mind your own business, guys. I knew there was something suspicious the moment I saw Hani-sempai."

_Now_ she was starting to piss me off.

Holding her down forcefully as she tried to get out of the room, I growled, "Look Aria, stop being a bitch. You think you're doing the world a whole lot of good by going crazy and marrying this totally personality-less bastard, but you are _not_. In fact, you're making us go through a whole lot of trouble because _none_ of us want you to leave." _I don't want you to leave._

"I don't like you."

_Well, I do. _"Does this face look like it cares? No. Now sit down."

She struggled to get up, but to no avail. "But—the business—"

At that point, I exploded. "The business can go to Hell, okay? Who _cares_ about the _stupid_ business? Who _cares_ about those stupid people? What _we_ care about, missy, is _you_. We want _you_ to choose something for yourself for once, because your 'selflessness' is really starting to piss some people off." _Me_.

I noticed a moment too late that I had gone several steps too far. Aria had stopped struggling, and her nose was reddening at a fast rate. She swallowed several times, looking down at her lap insistently.

"…Are you okay?"

"Why should you care?" she mumbled, sniffing loudly.

I sighed. "You are the most stubborn and infuriating person I've ever met, you know that?" When she didn't answer, I continued doggedly. "Look Aria, we all care for you. _I_ care for you." There. I said it. "We just…we just want you to enjoy life, to do what _you_ want to do, not what your parents want you to do."

The tears finally fell, dampening her lap. "The business…" she blubbered as she burst into tears. "I can't…"

I let go of both her wrists as she bent her head into her lap, sobbing. "I can't, Kaoru. You don't understand how much I _want_ to, but I—I can't…"

That was all I needed to hear.

My breath hitching in my chest, I didn't think as I enveloped her into my arms, releasing her hair from her bun and calming her as I ran my fingers through the glossy black locks. "You _can_, Aria. Of course you can. Rei already decided that she's going to take charge of one of the companies. She said that she could smooth everything over and cancel the engagement, easy."

This time it was Aria's turn to freeze. "…Where's Rei?" she whispered as she finally looked up at me in horror. Her eye makeup was starting to stream down her face and her hair was a mess (which did annoy me a bit, but I ignored it).

"Uh, she's your body double." I glanced at the TV screen that was taping the omiai room. "In fact, she should be there now."

"SHIT!" It was the first time I heard Aria cursing so loudly that I reacted a moment too slow as she flew off the couch and tripped, landing on her injured ankle. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she frantically told me, "She shouldn't be there right now. He'll know. He'll figure it out—he knows how to tell us apart."

"What? Who?" I implored her, confused.

"Yamazaki Yukihara. The omiai partner." She exhaled weakly. "He—He's probably the most manipulative guy I know. He has a huge crush on Rei, but she doesn't remember him at all." She winced again, bracing herself against the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Aria. Hold on—I'll get you some water—where's the ice, anyway?" I looked around, only to find Mori-sempai and Hani-sempai waiting outside the door, waving.

"We didn't want to interrupt!" Hani-sempai reasoned brightly.

A groan from Aria made me turn back to her nervously.

"...Kaoru…"

"Yeah? Don't worry, Aria, the ice is here—"

"…Get…" A huge breath before I saw her eyes roll back into their sockets. "…Get Rei out of there…"

* * *

><p><strong>Talk about dramatic, huh? I wasn't sure about sticking that part about Yukihara (that's his first name, BTW), but I wanted to throw something interestingrandom in. IT WAS COMPLETELY UNPLANNED FOR. **

**Tell me what you think in a review!**

**Speaking of reviews, A BIG THANK YOU to: DiamondRainbows, Animefreak Amii, Samrit, Sophia Griffin, Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, 2Lazy2Longin, AnimeFanCrazy197, tripplefrozen, TemaxShika forever.**

**R&R!**


	18. Chapter 16

**Hi everyone! Well, here it is. The last chapter. I can warn you right now that I struggled over this one quite a bit, and at the end it's still not the condition I want it to be. Therefore I may redo it later and re-upload this one.**

**Enjoy! STAY TUNED FOR MY AUTHOR NOTES AT THE END! IMPORTANT!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 16<p>

(Rei's POV)

I made my grand entrance by stepping on the hem of the kimono and falling flat on my face.

NOT ON PURPOSE.

Even for me, I was pretty embarrassed. Then I remembered that I was _supposed_ to be embarrassing myself, and decided to pretend that I hadn't done it accidentally.

"Are you all right?"

Looking up, I found some dude helping me up. He laughed. "That was quite a fall."

I decided to be rude and stick my lower lip out, brushing his hand away roughly, giving him the iciest stare I could muster. I'm proud to say that I channeled some of the "Aria" in me.

He just smiled, flipping his flippy Bieber hair and extending his hand to shake. "I'm Yamazaki Yukihara—you can call me Yuki for short." He leaned closer to whisper into my ear, "It's so nice seeing you again…Rei."

I paled and jerked away. "You…I…_what?_" I stuttered, trying to wrap my mind around the sentence he'd just spoken. It took all my self-control not to curse with a "What the f***?", but then I thought, _Oh, what the heck, I have to degrade my image anyway._ So I did it. Loudly.

So he knew who I was.

And he'd seen me before?

Which was impossible, since I always kept a low profile and never attended any events.

So it would have been when I was a child.

Genius. You are becoming a genius, Yanase Rei. I applaud you.

"Aria, this is quite unlike you. Come, sit down." I whirled around, but once again got caught in my infuriating Japanese equivalent of a ballgown. Even more infuriatingly, I fell into Yamazaki What's-His-Name's arms.

"Oh, they're getting so cozy—save that for later, children."

I was about to snap at the nosy lady who'd made the comment but decided to untangle myself from the stupid dude's iron grip. Finally getting to sit next to Aunt Mitsuba (who was looking at me with an intensely worried stare), I decided to shock everyone by sitting with my legs _wiiiide_ open.

Extremely improper if you're wearing a kimono (but not in a bad way—it was just disgusting-looking, even for me).

Yawning loudly, I slapped my knee and started messing up my hair by mussing it with one hand and pulling the ribbon and rubber band out.

Aunt Mitsuba looked perfectly horrified, as did the opposing parents, to my ultimate pleasure. Standing up, she dragged me out of the room angrily. "Aria, what is _wrong_ with you? Are you feeling all right?" She measured my temperature with her hand.

I shrugged. "I'm feeling okay. In fact, I'm feeling _GREAT_!" I said the last part with a hysterically triumphant shriek, cackling and making sure that everyone within a 10 meter radius could hear me.

By the time we went back into the room, Yamazaki's mother looked like her pituitary gland was about to burst, his father looked like his pituitary gland _already_ burst, and for some reason, Yamazaki was just calmly eating his meal.

Yamazaki's mom suddenly threw down her napkin in anger. "I _cannot_ stand this any longer! I was _told_ by Mitsuba that you were a polite, docile, elegant young woman, but you are a dirty, disgusting tomboy and I will _never_ let my son marry someone like _you_!"

Well, this was easier than I'd thought it would be. Waving her goodbye, I called airily, "Hasta la vista, baby!"

Reaching for a glass of iced water, I was about to take a large gulp when:

"You can go, Mother, but I'm staying."

The water that was in my mouth flew out my nose, and I gagged loudly. "_Excuse_ me?" I said in disbelief. "How can you—I don't get it!"

Yamazaki shrugged. "I thought we could have a heart-to-heart talk after all these years."

"_All these years?_" I mimicked. "I don't even remember you, Yamazaki. Anyways, your mother obviously doesn't want me to marry you, so ta-ta and see you never." I shooed him away rudely, lying back down on the tatami mats.

"Well, I never!"

Aunt Mitsuba went chasing after Mrs. Yamazaki as she slammed the door shut, leaving Yamazaki and I facing each other.

"Well? Aren't you going to _go away_?" The sooner this was over, the better.

To my surprise, bland-personality Yamazaki was suddenly bent over me, his hands at the sides of my head. My eyes wide, I held my breath as he leaned closer to me.

"You don't remember me, Rei? I'm hurt."

I swallowed audibly. "Um, are you the same person as your profile? Because you don't really seem as…_bland_…as you were portrayed."

He smirked. "Oh, that? I just don't like giving out personal information unless I _really_ want to." I noticed that he had a strand of hair in his hands and was fingering it gently. "Of course, I'd be willing to re-introduce myself to you…for a price."

"_She will do no such thing—_" a smooth voice interrupted, but was instead cut off by a furious (not to mention familiar) voice.

"_SO GET YOUR SHITTY HANDS OFF HER BEFORE I CUT THEM OFF MYSELF!_"

No, it was not Hikaru, in case you were wondering. The first voice was Kyoya-sempai, leaning on the doorjamb, the second was (surprisingly) Aria, who looked like a seething wreck. Kaoru merely shoved his way inside wielding a metal baseball bat, and Hikaru was the one whose mouth was duct taped shut and struggling against Takeshi-nii and Hani-sempai's arms.

Meanwhile, the Idiot King rushed over to me, blabbering fancy nothings about how I was and my safety and whatnot, while I was delighted to see Haruhi storm over, grab a bottle of extra-spicy hot pepper flakes and dump it over Yamazaki's head.

_So. The whole gang arrived, huh? _Unconsciously, I breathed out a deep sigh of relief. I wasn't sure what was going to happen with just me and Yamazaki, but now that they were here, well, let's just say I felt a little bit more than confident.

"As you can see, Yamazaki," I started, "you're clearly outnumbered. I have a boyfriend already—the one with the duct tape, in case you're wondering, and Aria's hooked up, too. We're both not planning on getting married until we're _at least_ 25, so you should give up if you know what's best for you."

Yamazaki seemed to not be paying attention to me. Instead, he was looking at Haruhi, eyes glazed over and pepper flakes still tumbling down his Bieber shag. "I…" he said softly, as he lifted one hand to gently caress Haruhi's cheek (much to the Idiot King's horror). "I think I'm in love with you."

"_HUH?"_

Everyone looked at each other (well, except for Glasses Guy) in disbelief. I caught Hikaru's eyes, and we both shrugged at each other. _Now he's Tono's problem. None of our business._

Sustaining minor injuries inflicted by Tamaki-sempai's insistent whapping, Yamazaki haughtily turned to look at me. "So, I guess you twins are hooked up with _those_ twins, huh?"

Aria surprised me by tilting her chin up equally arrogantly and retorting sharply, "Yeah. What're you going to do about it...Bieber," she added as an afterthought.

Kaoru whistled, impressed. "I think I'm going to marry you, Aria." My sister flushed and slapped him lightly.

Well, that was one happy ending.

Yamazaki snorted. "Two of a kind, eh? I thought twins hooking up with twins were fairytales."

Hikaru, having been released from his bondage, stepped up next to me and patted my shoulder. "Obviously not." He leaned down to kiss me, missing slightly (or on purpose?) and landing right next to my lips.

"Eugh." I jerked away abruptly at the touch. "Too much PDA for today—not in public, please."

Hikaru rolled his eyes, but Yamazaki (it seemed that he didn't quite understand his place) spoke for him: "PDA? Look, kiddo, that's not even cutting it _close_ to immodest." He snorted, muttering under his breath something that sounded like "Virgin girl."

Hikaru, Aria, Kaoru, Idiot King, and pretty much everyone else's face darkened.

"Hey," Hikaru proposed, "should we beat him up?"

Kaoru heaved the baseball bat he'd been carrying up onto his shoulder. "Yep."

Yamazaki finally grasped the current situation and paled considerably.

…We'll leave the rest of this story for a rainy day.

(Haruhi's POV)

Today, I think, was a good day. The mission went without a hitch, despite the bumps on the road, and Kaoru and Aria finally got together, to everyone's relief. Hikaru didn't completely discombobulate after witnessing Rei's encounter with…(what's his name…Aria's former marriage partner?)

Tamaki-sempai was a little mad that Aria's former marriage partner (A/N: she totally just forgot his name) seemed to have a change of heart directed towards me, but that was okay. It wasn't as if we were going to see him again—Kyoya-sempai made sure of that. He was far too annoyed at being held up at the hotel to care about the wellbeing of the boy.

The day concluded with a celebration that included cake, sweets, and various other dishes that I savored (though I resented the fact that Tamaki-sempai offered me Tupperware to take some of the ootoro home).

Happily ever after for the Ouran High School Host Club wouldn't sound quite right, especially since Hikaru and Rei broke out in a tremendous fight between almond cookies and peanut butter biscuits, so I suppose I'll settle for this:

_The Ouran High School Host Club was established for bored, rich, and handsome young men with altogether too much time on their hands to entertain equally rich young women with altogether too much time on their hands. The Host Club was known as the perfect club filled with beautiful, perfect people._

_Though they were all physically blessed, you could see that the friendship between the seven Host Club members and two honorary members was more than a pretty picture. They all got into fights with each other often, be it explosively serious or petty, but at the end, everyone made up with some cake and maybe a kiss or two. No one really cared if a certain someone showed up wearing training gear for an important auction or if someone else was quiet to the point of being rude. They all loved each other and they all accepted each other's strengths and weaknesses._

_That's how we were, and that's how we lived our lives together—through sleet, hail, rain, and sunshine._

_(Interference courtesy of Tamaki Suou) And we all lived exciting, adventurous, happy, and lovey-dovey lives for the rest of time! Oh, and Yamazaki Yukihara can go rot and die in a pit!_

_(Haruhi: …Thanks for ruining my speech.)_

_(Tamaki: SOB!)_

**THE END.**

* * *

><p><strong>Wowie. This is, I am proud (?) to say, my first ever story. COMPLETED. Thank you all for being with me and supporting me with your kind words. Thank you for reading this fanfiction, and thank you for sticking with me all this way.<strong>

**In particular, I'd like to thank AnimeFanCrazy197, CookieMonstar-And-DeaTheKid, Ulquiorra12345, Ulquiorra1234 (why do I get the feeling that these two usernames are somehow related...?), Samrit, kitty13492, Poison Innocence, DiamondRainbows, Animefreak Amii, Layla (anonymous reviewer for chapter 6, thank you!), and last, but certainly not least, Sophia Griffin. Thank you thank you thank you-all your reviews (including the names I haven't listed here) brighten up my day and spur me on to continue writing.**

**BUT WAIT! (I sound like an infomercial) If you aren't satisfied with this crappy ending chapter like I am, KEEP ON READING! I'm planning on writing some extra omake chapters + an epilogue, so although this series will be marked as completed, IT WILL KEEP ON GOING! :) Any ideas/requests? REVIEW!**

**I have to say it again now: THANK YOU. ^_^ Stay in touch-I'm not disappearing from FFN, and I may have some more stories out, if the muse speaks to me. :)) See you then!**

* * *

><p><em>Two of a Kind<em>, by

Published: 04-04-11.

Finished: 07-27-11.

Thanks so much, guys. Couldn't have done it without ya. ;)

PS. In case anybody was wondering, I FELT GUILTY for not giving Haruhi a bigger role. So I gave her the pepper move and the final POV switch (at least for this chapter). A rather interesting twist, don't you think? Oh, and the italicized summary thing at the end? That was my attempt to sound all writer-y and smart. So if I made a complete fool of myself, DON'T WORRY, I KNOW. :D

R&R!


	19. Epilogue 1

**Hey everyone, sorry for the hold up. :) Here it is, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue 1<strong>

The sidewalk painter looked on as he quick sketched an impression of the Eiffel Tower onto a small canvas. He loved his work, he loved Paris, and he loved watching the people, most of all.

His attention was caught by a two young boys, roughly around the same age, scampering around each other.

"Tag! You're it!"

"No, I'm _not_!"

"No tag backs—hey! I just said, _no tag backs!_"

"MOTHERRRRRRRR!"

"MOMMMMMMM!"

The painter was surprised to see them conversing loudly in Japanese. He looked closer. One boy, who looked a bit older, had bright amber colored hair while the other had dark black hair.

"Lord, what have you done _now_?" a female voice asked at the same time as another woman, who yelled, "Play nice, boys, or we'll have to unleash our wrath on you!"

Once again, the painter was shocked to see two beautiful, _identical_ women trot after the two children. The one with long, curled hair was dressed in a warm grey peacoat and was clip-clopping away, comfortable in her high heels. The other had a festive red beret partially covering her short bob, and was more practically dressed in a trench coat, leggings, and flats.

"Aw, you're no fun, Mom," the black-haired boy grumbled. In response, his mother whacked him lightly on the head.

"Oh, yeah? We'll _see_ how 'fun' I am after I'm through with you, you little—"

A tall, handsome man whose hair was dyed a dark reddish-brown slid up from behind her, hugging her gently and kissing her on the cheek. "Don't exert yourself, Rei, you'll harm the baby."

The woman, Rei, sighed reluctantly before relaxing, the reddish color in her face fading back to her healthy summer glow. "I'm _not_ going to hurt the baby—in fact, I think getting a little exercise won't hurt her too much. You made me take maternity leave like, what, _four_ months before the due date, and look how _he_ turned out." She waved a joking hand at her son, who protested with an indignant "Hey!"

Rei laughed and bent down to plant a sloppy kiss on her son's head. Her son scrambled away, moaning, "Aw, _Mom_…"

The painter almost jumped when _another_ mirror image of the husband ran over to the long-haired woman, carrying a girl in his arms. Like her father, she had the same amber-colored hair. "Aria, you can't believe what I just saw—"

"Daddy," the girl complained, "put me _down_, I'm not a baby. I've _five_."

The long-haired woman giggled and patted her husband's shoulder tenderly. "What did you see?"

"A freaking _fountain_ of a _naked guy with water coming out of his_—"

His wife coughed loudly, cutting him off with a quick stamp on his foot. She seemed to be grumbling something under her breath, but was distracted when the two boys started kicking up a ruckus again.

"_My_ mother _never_ kisses me," the amber-haired boy proclaimed proudly.

"Yeah, well," the black-haired one shot back, "that just means that she doesn't love you. Or you're adopted."

The girl frowned and looked up at her father. "Daddy, is Nii-chan really adopted? Because I demand an emancipation if he is."

The amber-haired boy frowned as well, seeming to be trying to come up with a fast comeback. Finding none, he resorted to yelling, "MOTHERRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

Intervening quickly, the short-haired woman cut in, "Well, I think you _both_ are going to lose in that little fight of yours. You wanna know why?"

Obediently, they turned to her. "No."

"Because _we're_ going to race to the Eiffel Tower and _I'm_ going to kick your sorry butts to the _next millennium_!"

Horror struck on their faces. "_NO!"_

The mother cackled before shoving her bag to her husband, who swore. "Last one at the top's a rotten egg!" Then, she took off, running towards the tower lithely with her shoes in her hands.

"_MOM! WAIT UP!"_

"Aunt Rei! You're _going too fast!_ OLD PEOPLE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE SO FAST!"

There was an echoing shout from far off: "SUCKS FOR YOU!"

Her husband, still carrying her bag and jogging off worriedly, yelled, "REI! THE BABY!"

"_SORRY!"_ There came the rather unapologetic reply.

The remaining woman, her husband, and her daughter looked at each other and shrugged (the daughter rolled her eyes). "Guess we should catch up, then, darling."

"Carry my shoes for me? I can't run in Louboutins."

The painter smiled. He knew what would be his next piece of work.

**Several Months Later**

_Renowned Painter Akizuki Wins Prize for Esteemed Painting, "Family at Paris"!_

Hikaru glanced at the photo in the newspaper as he sipped his morning coffee. Then he took a closer look at it. "Whoa, Aria, come here!" He gestured for his sister-in-law to lean over the kitchen table.

"…Huh. That's odd."

"What's odd? Good morning, love." Kaoru planted a light kiss at Aria's temple before snatching the paper. "…Holy shit."

"Hey, who's cussing in the house? Not cool, especially with kids around." Rei, hobbling at eight months pregnant, settled herself into the seat next to Hikaru. She took a closer look at the picture in the newspaper. "…Uh, is it just me, or does that look weirdly like _us_?"

There was a silence, then everyone cracked up.

"Of _course_ not! That's such a silly idea, why would we be in Akizuki's paintings?"

"Yeah! That's like, so far off, it's not even funny."

Aria stared at the newspaper some more. "You know, when we went to the Eiffel Tower that day, I was wearing my Christian Louboutins. Custom-made."

Everyone froze again. "…_HOLY_—"

"NO SWEARING IN THE HOUSEHOLD, YOU IDIOT!"

End.

* * *

><p><strong>Next one will be about the HOW'S, WHYS, AND HOW COMES of this series. If you have any questions, REVIEW AND ASK! I promise it'll be answered in the next chapter. :)<strong>

**Thanks for reading!**

**Oh, and if anyone asks: K+A/H+R are living together, in a sense. They live in two completely different houses, but they're connected together with a hallway, if that makes sense.**

**Reviews = love.**


	20. Author note

Hi people! Yeah, yeah, I know: I've been gone for a while. And I've promised you more epilogues/bonus chapters, but first, I need some ideas/requests!

Write a review on this chapter with requests on what you want… You can make imaginary situations such as "Write something about the twins meeting as children" or "What if Aria and Rei switched personalities for a day?", or you can request something about their family life, dating, college life, etc. Anything T-rated and below, of course!

I definitely plan to write **The HOW'S, WHY'S, and so on.** (Any questions that you're DYING to ask? Wondering about any gaping holes in the story? Send me a review, and I'll include an explanation!)

I'm also thinking of some AU scenarios…any ideas? (example: Hikaru and Kaoru are the twin princes of a faraway kingdom, which is currently at war with a neighboring kingdom. In an attempt to secure a peace treaty, the enemy kingdom sends their two princesses to establish a truce in form of marriage. However, nothing seems to go as planned…) FYI that was just some random crap I hashed up, heavily inspired by Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen (awesome manga by the way, check it out if you haven't already).

xo.


	21. Epilogue 2

One of my "vomit-pieces" where I just "vomit" everything out as it comes to me. Horrible imagery, yes, I am aware of that.

* * *

><p><strong><em>"I'm Embarrassed, Mom."<em>**

* * *

><p>A typical day at work consisted of meetings, auditions, more meetings, coffee, and mountains of paperwork to sift through. Then, at exactly 2:30 pm, came the fun part.<p>

"Come on, squirt, stop talking to your girlfriend and get into the car!" I hollered obnoxiously through the window of my red BMW.

That's right. Embarrassing the heck out of my eight-year-old son Narumi, who got red in the face and hollered back, "MOMMMMMMMMM!"

Ignoring his older brother's antics, my younger son Izumi (three) tugged at my sleeve whining, "Mommy, can I have some french fries? And a milkshake? PLEASE?" Firmly, I shook my head as Narumi slid into the backseat, jostling Izumi's car seat on the way in.

The crybaby he was, Izumi promptly burst into tears and loud wailing. I rolled up the windows instantly, and leaned back to soothe him, sighing.

"So, how was your day, Naru?" I asked conversationally as I crawled into the back of the car, unstrapping Izumi from his car seat and rocking him back and forth. Yes, this was normal in our family. (I bet Izumi got his crybaby tendencies from Hikaru.)

"Fine." Wow. Teenager much?

"Anything coming up that I should know about?" I persisted.

"Oh yeah." Narumi rummaged around in his rucksack before holding out a crumpled flyer.

"It's Parent Day at school tomorrow."

Scanning the flyer quickly, I smiled. "Yeah, I'll definitely be there, but tell me earlier about stuff like this next time, 'kay?"

Izumi stopped crying as I handed him a candy to suck on.

"Will Dad come?" Narumi asked quickly.

Crawling behind the steering wheel, I pursed my lips. "Hmmm...maybe, why do you ask?"

He mumbled something under his breath.

"What's that?" I strained to hear what he was saying.

"You're embarrassing."

I'm not denying it-it did hurt, even though I was trying to embarrass him in the first place. "You mean the way I act?"

"No, well, yeah..." Narumi struggled to say whatever he was thinking. "It's just...the way you act, the way you dress. I mean, look at you!" He gestured at my "work outfit" (a bright tee, jeans, and flats). "Everyone else's moms always dress really nice and put on makeup. Nobody else has their mom pick them up and yell at them like a lunatic. Why can't you be more like Auntie Aria?"

Oh.

Starting the car, I gripped the steering wheel and swallowed. "Well, I didn't know you felt that way, honey. I'm sorry I'm not like Aria, or the perfect mother you want."

"No, it's okay Mom, I'm sorry-"

"No," I cut in, "don't be. It's okay, starting tomorrow I'll work hard to be like Aria, okay? Just...don't worry about it."

The car was silent, until Izumi broke in. "Can we go to McDonalds?"

I laughed, a bit hollowly. "Yeah, sure. Anything you want."

_Anything you want._

* * *

><p>"Hey, Hikaru?" I asked later as we held each other in the darkness. "Am I embarrassing to you?"<p>

He was quiet for a moment, and I held my breath fearfully. "Sometimes, yeah," he finally said, "but that's just how you are. That's how you show your love. And I love you for being embarrassing." He planted a soft kiss to the side of my head. "Why, did something happen?"

"Naru said I was embarrassing to him. He said he wanted me to be more like the other moms-like Aria."

"Oh." I could almost hear the wheels in Hikaru's head turning, trying to figure out what to say. He sufficed for a quiet "Ouch."

"Yeah," I sighed, feeling tears well up in my eyes. I buried my face in his chest. "Did I do something wrong? Am I a bad mother?" I choked on a sob.

"No, you're fine, sweetie, he just-Narumi just doesn't understand the way you work. Don't worry, I'll talk to him-"

"No." I shot up in bed. "Don't talk to him about it. I want to...if it's really what he wants...then I'll try to become Aria for him." I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "If he really likes appearances so much, then I'll become his ideal mother tomorrow for Parent Day."

Hikaru sat up beside me. "Are you sure, Rei?" he asked. I nodded, not wanting to say anything else. He sighed. "Okay. Just...Naru doesn't really feel that way, baby, he's just...caught up in the ideals of our society. We all love you for who you are, Rei, you can be sure of that." Hugging me gently to his chest, he smothered me in another kiss, deeper this time.

I sighed in resigned, albeit relieved, defeat. "I love you." I could hear the smile in his voice as he yawned loudly, flopping back into the pillows and bringing me down with him, tucking me carefully into the nook of his neck. "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." As if demonstrating his point, he nipped me lightly.

"Okay," I laughed, pushing him away gently, "I get the message. Now hurry up and go to sleep-big day tomorrow."

"Yup," he said, voice muffled into the pillow. "Big day."

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Day<strong> (Narumi's POV)

The driver, Tanaka-san, went to drive me to school in the morning. It was weird, not having Mom drive me to school. It was weird not having her yell out the window for something I forgot, or to rush out to give me a hug, or to honk the horn just to get me to turn backwards.

_Weird._

It was kind of nice, though, not having an obnoxiously loud lady holler at you from behind.

I thanked Tanaka-san as he dropped me off.

"Your mom's not here?" Kurabagoro, a classmate with a prissy attitude to match his overly long name, sneered. "My mother said that she was one of those commoners." I bristled, about to lunge at the prick, but a hand kept me from leaping.

"Narumi-kun, stop, you know it's not nice." _Oh, God._

I rolled my eyes. "You're such a goody-goody, Misaki. Anyways, shouldn't you be saying that to Kuraba instead, Miss Know It All?" He was in the wrong, after all-how come she took his side over mine? Because of Mom. She was embarrassing.

I thought of her face in the rearview mirror yesterday-the one where she looked like she was going to cry. I stifled the guilty feeling that sprouted in my chest.

It was all Mom's fault, anyway. Everyone thought I was weird because of her, except Raku, anyway, but he was my cousin, so he had to like me, or else.

I wish Mom was perfect. Then maybe everyone would like me better.

* * *

><p>I sat in my seat throughout class, dreading the time for the parents to come in.<p>

Raku, who was sitting next to me, stood excitedly. "Mother? I didn't know you would come!" Great. Now Auntie Aria and Mom would be compared, and everyone would envy perfect, popular Raku even more, shoving poor little me to the side. Just great.

I heard the whispers already: "Oh my, who is that?" "Oh, she's the CEO for Genefique Modeling-quite successful, and she's married to the CEO and founder of Hitachiin Games-oh my, that's him! Quite the stunner-oh, hello, Hitachiin-san, I'm-"

Wait...what?

A female voice chuckled softly. "Case of mistaken identity, Rakuto. Sorry-Aria's held up at a meeting and Kaoru's flight was cancelled in Paris. The good news is that since me and your uncle are technically identical twins, we can hypothetically pose as your parents as well." I felt a hand lightly pat my back, and looked up.

"...Mom?"

Mom looked a lot like Auntie Aria-even though they were identical twins, I hadn't thought about it until now. She curled her short hair and put on makeup-instead of the customary casual clothing, she was wearing tall black high heels and a formal business suit. I'd seen Mom put on makeup before, when she went out on a date with Dad, but I'd never seen her put on this much. And definitely not red lipstick.

Unfamiliarly, Mom smiled. I waited for her to plant a kiss on me, laugh at the lipstick remnant, or start talking about some embarrassing moment I had as a kid, but it didn't come. Instead, she said, "I'll be watching from the back, Narumi." I turned, watching her from my seat as she lightly clip-clopped back to Dad.

All of the parents swarmed around them, oohing and aahing. I felt a slight triumph as Kurabagoro's mom fawned over my parents. Even so, I couldn't help staring at the alien presence that was my mom.

"Wow, Narumi, your mom can sure clean up," a boy (I didn't bother learning his name) whispered to me. I laughed halfheartedly.

It didn't feel right.

No, it didn't feel right at all.

* * *

><p><em>"Hey, Mom?"<em>

_"Yes, sweetie?"_

_"Can you go back to being you? I don't like it when you act like Auntie Aria."_

_"...Are you sure? I thought you would like it better like this-that way, you won't get embarrassed by me."_

_"Nah. I liked you better when you were loud. You're just weird like this."_

_"Aw, thanks, babe."_

_"...That was fast."_

* * *

><p>At the end of the day, Mom and Dad had ten new business proposals each and several banquets and parties scheduled. The parents liked them when they were dressing nice and acting polite.<p>

Me, I liked my mom with her tracksuit, yelling, and honking. I liked it better when she openly hugged and kissed me (ew!). She didn't have to be Auntie Aria-besides, Auntie Aria rarely made it to any of Raku's piano recitals and competitions, while my mom made it a point to cut everything out of her schedule just to attend my soccer game or take me and Izumi to the amusement park for a day.

I was pretty lucky to have such a silly, obnoxiously loud mom for a mom.

And it got even better when she traded the red BMW for an even brighter yellow sportscar.

* * *

><p>Just a little peek at what happens inside of Hikaru and Rei's household.<p>

In case anyone needs clarification, Rei and Hikaru have two sons: Narumi and Izumi. Aria and Kaoru have a son, Rakuto, and a daughter, Momo. I have a strong feeling that Hikaru played a bigger part in choosing the first names, though Rei insisted on having Western middle names for the kids. (They are formally Narumi Theodore Hitachiin and Izumi Laurie Hitachiin, because Rei likes Little Women.) Aria chose Rakuto, a more sensible-sounding name (no middle names), and Kaoru chose Momo, a cuter name.

Additional background info: Raku is extremely artistically talented. He's a musical prodigy and is a generally friendly person, and makes friends easily. He's also easily the most popular person in the class. Narumi, on the other hand, is extremely athletic and hates schoolwork. He has average grades and a blunt personality, which makes him a little alienated from the rest of the class, but he's the type of rough, scary people that are actually really nice. Later on in high school, he actually becomes the student council president. The little siblings, Izumi and Momo, are much closer than Raku and Narumi, who have a bit of a friendly rivalry going on. Izumi is one of those effortless geniuses who would rather spend time chowing down on food while Momo is a part-time child actress and part-time stock broker. Raku and Narumi baby Momo and spoil her while she does the same to Izumi, who is the youngest of the four cousins. In high school, they eventually make a name for themselves as the Golden Four and are the next generation of Host Clubbers alongside the alumni HC-ers. :)

(P.S. If I ever do a high school epilogue of The Kids, I might subtly stick in a very, very vague KyoyaxOC story? I think Kyoya seems more of a Love-After-Marriage type of guy. What say you? wink wink)


	22. Epilogue 3

**Because cliche is just so loveable.**

* * *

><p>"<strong>Do You Really?"<strong>

I've always questioned my mother's love for me.

Because she was always absorbed in her work, and Father was sometimes in Milan, sometimes, in Paris, or maybe New York, I was put in the hands of Auntie Rei and Uncle Hikaru for most of my childhood.

I remember how excited I got when Auntie Rei persuaded Mother to take a vacation, and take the entire family out on a vacation. We'd gone to Paris one time, and Mother had gotten me a Michael Kors gold plated watch, much larger than my childish wrist. She told me that it was an early present, for me to wear when I could grow into the watch and become a man.

"All real men must wear classic watches," she said. "Your father does, and you will, too."

Mother's father had a Rolex watch, I remembered. I didn't remember what Father's father wore—he was always kind of in the background. Only Izumi really associated with him closely, anyway.

When we got home, I slept with the watch next to my pillow for months until Momo, my sister, found out and teased me about it. I found pleasure in Mother and Father's laugh as she relayed the revelation to them, and laughed with them too.

Those were the fonder days, when we all woke up extra early to have breakfast together. Then Grandmother (on Mother's side) fell ill, and Mother had to take care of her and work even harder at the same time. Father's fashion business started getting popular, and some famous royalty became his client, so he was off traveling, too.

Momo and I ended up eating breakfast at Uncle Hikaru's part of the house. I sat between Naru and Momo, but it still felt a little bit lonely.

I remember as a child that I was often envious of all the attention showered upon Narumi and Izumi-how no matter what, Auntie Rei and Uncle Hikaru would make sure to attend each of Narumi's soccer games or basketball games or whatever he was playing at the time, and how Auntie Rei would always drop Narumi and I off at school and pick him up.

Me, I devoted most of my time to practicing the piano and violin and studying. I was at the top of the class and known as the most brilliant and talented student in the school-I even skipped several grades-but still, Mother just couldn't find the time to attend even one piano competition. Father came to the concours in Vienna, but Mother didn't.

Momo tried her best too, becoming a child actress and securing a major role in a prime-time television series. She entered in a beauty pageant and won, though I knew that she secretly harbored more of an interest in photography than modeling. She only did it so that whenever Mother or Father turned on the television, they would see her on the screen and be reminded of her.

I remembered hearing Auntie Rei fighting with Mother about it, screaming at her until tears started pouring down her face and she lost her voice. Mother just had a sad, sad look on her face, quietly sitting at the sofa, looking down at her coffee mug. She didn't say a word.

I always wondered if she really cared for me and Momo.

Then, when I was thirteen, I asked her. "Mother, do you really love me?"

She stared at me over the rim of her coffee cup, not exactly surprised but not exactly expecting it either. "Why do you ask?" I noticed that she was avoiding my question.

Pressing on, I shifted from foot to foot nervously. "You never come to Momo's pageants, and you never come to my recitals or my competitions."

She sighed softly. "Rakuto, you have to understand that your father and I are very busy, and it is hard for us to make time-"

Angrily, I interrupted her. "_Auntie Rei_ makes time for Naru! She goes to every one of his games, and she even drives him to school! And because Izumi was in his school play, she especially canceled an appointment with an important business partner just to go see him! And he was only _Tree #3_! He didn't have any lines!"

Mother's stare was steely and hard. "_Auntie Rei_ is irresponsible and scatterbrained. It's amazing that she can somehow uphold the company that your grandfather passed down to her."

My response was equally harsh. "Well, at least if the company crashes, she still has a family that loves her!" In a storm of fury and recklessness, I stormed out of the door and into the streets.

"Wait!" I heard Mother call to me, anxious and frightened. "Raku, stop! Watch out!"

I halted in the middle of the streets, only to see my mother rush up onto me and throw me out of the way-

I closed my lights against the blinding lights and the honking, and then:

Darkness.

I awoke to white hospital walls, and the muted sounds of weeping and murmuring. "...Mother?" I croaked, my voice scratchy and hoarse. My throat hurt almost as much as the pang near my rib, and it hurt to breathe.

"He's awake! Oh, thank God." _Mother?_ No, it was Auntie Rei. Her foggy face swam into my vision. "What's your name, and what year is it?" she asked pleadingly.  
>I gave the information to her, and she sighed in relief. "Good, no amnesia. Raku, do you remember what happened?"<p>

I would have shaken my head, but my skull hurt and was ringing, so I said, "No."

"There was a car accident. Drunk driving in midday," Auntie Rei explained. "Aria shoved you out of the way, but you impaled your head on a metal pole and had a concussion. One of your ribs punctured your lungs, and you had to go into surgery."

"Where's Mother?" I asked, my fear increasing. "Where is she?"

Auntie Rei's face screwed up, and she burst into tears. Uncle Hikaru pulled her out of the room, rubbing her back and murmuring softly.

"Rakuto?"

"Father?" I asked groggily. "What happened to Mother?" I swallowed. "She's not..._dead_...is she?"

"No..."

I sighed in relief, wincing when I jerked the wrong way.

"She's in a coma."

My eyes flew open. "What?"

Father was struggling to contain his emotion. He gripped the edge of my hospital bed. "Mother...always had a delicate condition. It worsened when she started working, and when she was hit directly by the truck, she...she was knocked out and she hasn't woken up." He swallowed. "The doctors say that it's a rare condition, and they haven't found a cure for it."

A sob caught in my throat. "It's my fault."

Father seemed to jerk alive at this. "No, Raku, it's not. It was the driver's fault, if anything-he shouldn't have been drinking and driving."

"But if I hadn't run out of the house-"

"Rakuto," Father interrupted, "we found Mother lying on the road, half-conscious. She was holding on, Raku, just barely, and the only words she was saying were your name."

He sat down on the stool next to my bed, clasping and unclasping his hands. "I blame myself for not explaining this to you and your sister earlier, Raku. I blame myself for not coming to see you more, not putting in more effort to be a family. I will sincerely try to be more of a father to you and your sister. I won't leave you two alone at home anymore." He took a deep breath.

"Mother loves you. She loves you and Momo very much, but she has trouble showing it because, well, she's just not like Auntie Rei. She can't kiss people in public, and she feels uncomfortable hugging and doing showy things that Auntie Rei does. The only way she can show her love is through working, and giving you and Momo the best she can afford. She makes sure that you two are put in the best, safest schools, and she personally interviews all of your teachers."

I swallowed, feeling oddly shaken. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" I demanded hotly. _Then this wouldn't have happened..._

Father looked saddened, grim, and even more upset. "It was my fault. She was too embarrassed, and so I promised not to tell. I'm sorry, Raku."

_Right now isn't the time to put the blame on someone._

"No..." I took a deep breath. "Can you ask the doctor to come in? I'd like to speak with him alone."

* * *

><p><strong>(Years Later)<strong>

Exclusive Interview: Genius 18-Year-Old Doctor Discovers Revolutionary Cure

Dr. Rakuto Hitachiin, a genius doctor at only eighteen, discovers the revolutionary cure for a disease that has long since boggled the minds of experienced doctors three times his age.

_How do you feel, Dr. Hitachiin, discovering the cure? What was your motivation behind this?_

Dr. Hitachiin (H): It's amazing to finally complete my goal. I've been working to develop a cure for this syndrome since I was thirteen. My mother was involved in an accident and was put in comatose due to the effects of the syndrome. Ever since then I decided to become a doctor to save her.

_That's amazing. How is she?_

H: She woke up yesterday morning and is recovering steadily.

_Do you have any other aspirations if you hadn't decided to become a doctor?_

H: Maybe a musician, but I think being a doctor is worth it, and with a little pushing, I probably would have chosen it. I can't imagine _not_being a doctor now, and I enjoy every minute of it. Even the long hours. (laughs)

_Do you have anyone to thank for your discovery?_

H: My family, definitely. Father, Momo, Aunt Rei, Uncle Hikaru, Naru, Izumi, and my lovely girlfriend Miho; thanks for helping me through many obstacles in these five years. My teachers who have guided me, and last, but not least, Mother, who has spurred me on even in her sleep.

_How about a welcome-back message for your mother?_

H: Um... (pauses) Mother, I don't doubt you anymore. Thanks for saving me that day and giving me my dream. Without you, I probably still would've been wandering around aimlessly. Good luck during house arrest. I love you.

_House arrest?_

H: (laughs) My father has a protective complex. He won't be letting my mother leave the house alone for ages.

_What do you plan to do next?_

H: The usual. On call, 24-7. I would like to spend some time with my family, however-it's been quite a while since we've eaten breakfast together.

_Thank you for your time, Dr. Hitachiin._

H: Thank you.

Dr. Hitachiin seems to be an extremely busy man in demand, as his cell phone starts ringing constantly the moment he turns it on. Girls all over the world will cry in despair at the mention of his girlfriend of three years. He is notably quite fashionable, perhaps from genetics due to his fashion designer parents, and constantly wears a gold Michael Kors watch. His father, Hitachiin Kaoru, is the founder and CEO of Hitachiin Designs and his until-recently comatose mother, Hitachiin Aria (nee Yanase) was the CEO of Apple Athletics, Co. His family is full of young geniuses as well, ranging from model-turned-photographer Hitachiin Momo to rising abstract artist Hitachiin Izumi and Olympic gold-medal winner Hitachiin Narumi. Perhaps this line of talented prodigies also run in the family as well?

_For more about the famous Hitachiins, turn to pg. 47..._

* * *

><p><strong>Review, yes? Also, for the WHY'S and HOW COMES' segment of the epilogue series, is it OK with you guys if I just whip over the basics of the explanation? It's kind of difficult to come up with interesting, detailed explanations... =_= (cough lazybutt cough)<strong>


End file.
